f  ^^ 


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LIBRARY      r 

OF   THE 

Theological   Seminary, 

PRINCETON,    N.  J. 

Case        ^^    ^^^-^      •^^'^     ^^^9 

»se,     Spring,  Gardiner,  1785-1873 
Shelf,    The  obligations  of  the  worl( 
to  the  Bible 


J 


t 


^ft^r*- 


THE 


OBLIGATIONS  OF  THE  WORLD 


TO    THE 


BIBLE: 


A    SERIES    OF    LECTURES    TO    YOUNG    MEN. 


BY 


GARDINER  SPRING, 


PASTOR    OF    THE    BRICK    PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH    IN     THE    CITY 
OF     NEW     YORK 


NEW   YORK : 
TAYLOR    &    DODD, 

LATE   JOHN    S.   TAYLOR, 

CORNER  OF  PARK  ROW  AND  SPRUCE  STREETS. 

1839. 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1839,  by 

Taylor  &  Dodd, 

in  the  Clerk's  Office    of  the    District  Court   of  the  Southern 

District  of  New  York. 


ADVERTISEMENTS. 


Just  published  by  Taylor  &  Dodd,  Publishers  and  Booksel- 
lers,  Brick  Church  Chapel : 

THE   OBLIGATIONS    OF    THE   WORLD  TO   THE  BI- 
BLE,  By  Gardiner  Spring,  D.  D.  1  Vol.  8vo.  pp.  404. 

T.  &  D.  are  also  the  publishers  of  the  following  additional 
works  from  the  pen  of  Dr.  Spring,  Pastor  of  the  Brick  Presby. 
terian  Church,  New  York  City,  viz. 

FRAGMENTS    FROM  THE   STUDY  OF  A  PASTOR,   1 

Vol.  12mo. 

HINTS   TO   PARENTS,  ON    THE    RELIGIOUS    EDU- 
CATION  OF  CHILDREN,  1  Vol.  18mo. 

CHRISTIAN   CONFIDENCE,    ILLUSTRATED   IN  THE 
DEATH  OF  THE  REV.  EDWARD  D.  GRIFFIN,  D.  D. 

1  Vol.  18mo. 

SKETCH  OF  JEREMIAH  EVARTS. 

Also  for  sale,  SPRING  ON  NATIVE  DEPRAVITY,  1  Vol. 
8vo. 


Z  ADVERTISEMENTS. 

The  following  notice  of  SPRING'S  FRAGMENTS  is  ex- 
tracted  from  the  N.  Y.  Commercial  Advertiser  of  Nov. 
10th,  1838. 

The  first  piece  entitled  the  "  Church  in  the  Wilderness,"  is 
one  of  the  most  beautiful  sketches  in  our  language.  It  is  in 
every  respect  a  finished  production — a  picture  complete  in  all  its 
parts,  that  for  the  time  captivates  the  affections,  enchains  the 
powers  of  the  mind,  and  fills  the  soul  with  the  most  exalted  con- 
ceptions.  The  Church  is  represented,  under  the  various  cir- 
cumstances  of  her  earthly  allotment,  leaning  on  the  arm  of  her 
Beloved,  and  deriving  all  her  strength  from  this  unfailing  source. 
The  chastened  but  glowing  fancy,  elegance  of  diction,  and  puritj- 
of  thought,  conspire  to  give  beauty  to  the  image,  and  make  us 
dwell  upon  it  with  delight. 

The  other  pieces  in  the  collection  are  scarcely  of  inferior 
merit.  "  The  Inquiring  Meeting"  portrays  with  great  vividness 
some  of  the  phases  which  the  human  heart  exhibits,  when  under 
the  influence  of  religious  excitement.  The  "  Letter  to  a  Young 
Clergymen"  abounds  in  instructions  of  inestimable  value.  It 
may  perhaps,  be  doubted  whether  the  author  attaches  sufficient 
importance  to  pastoral  visitation.  "  The  Panorama,"  is  an 
affecting  delineation  of  the  employment  of  men  as  they  usually 
appear  on  the  stage  of  active  life.  "  The  Useful  Christian"  con- 
tains sound  practical  suggestions  for  informing  the  mind,  regulat- 
ing  the  heart,  and  inspiring  energy  of  action. 


INTRODUCTION. 


In  venturing  to  give  this  work  to  the  public,  the 
Author  comphes  with  repeated  and  earnest  solici- 
tations. The  subject  is  of  sufficient  importance 
to  have  employed  the  pen  of  abler  men  5  nor  does 
he  doubt  that  abler  thinkers,  and  students  of 
greater  research  and  more  leisure  will  find  abun- 
dant cause  for  animadversion  in  the  following 
pages.  They  have  been  prepared  amid  the  un- 
diminished labours  of  the  pulpit  during  the  last 
autumn  and  winter  5  and  now  that  he  has  com- 
mitted them  to  the  press,  more  deeply  than  ever 
does  he  desire  that  his  time  and  engagements  per- 
mitted him  to  give  them  a  more  careful  revision. 
Though  very  many  of  the  thoughts  here  presented 
are  not  new,  he  is  not  aware  that  the  train  of 
thought  and  illustration  has  ever  been  presented 


X  INTRODUCTION. 

before.  So  far  as  this  humble  and  imperfect  effort 
may  tend  to  such  a  result,  his  earnest  desire  has 
been  to  exalt  and  honour  the  Holy  Scriptures, 
more  especially  in  the  estimation  of  the  young. 
With  the  fervent  prayer  to  their  God  and  their 
father's  God,  that  it  may  be  thus  directed,  he  sub- 
mits it  to  their  attention. 

Brick  Church  Chapel,  New  York.     June  1839. 


CONTENTS. 


LECTURE  I. 

Page. 
The  use  of  Oral  and  Written  Language  to  be  attributed 
to  a  Supernatural  Revelation  .         .         .         .  13 

LECTURE  II. 
The  Literary  merit  of  the  Scriptures.  ...  43 

LECTURE  III. 

The  obligations  of  Legislative  Science  to  the  Bible        .  67 

LECTURE  IV. 

The  Bible  friendly  to  Civil  Liberty  ...         101 

LECTURE  V. 

The  Scriptures  the  Foundation  of  Religious  Liberty  and 
the  Rights  of  Conscience         .....         126 

LECTURE  VI. 
The  Morality  of  the  Bible 158 

LECTURE  VII. 

The  Influence  of  the  Bible  upon  the  Social  Institutions.         183 


Xll  CONTENTS. 

LECTURE  VIII. 

Page. 
The  Influence  of  the  Bible  upon  Slavery      .         .         .         214 

LECTURE  IX. 

The  Influence  of  the  Bible  on  the  Extent  and  Certainty  of 
Moral  Science 252 

LECTURE  X. 

The    Pre-eminence  of  the    Bible    in    producing    Holiness 
and  True  Religion •         276 

LECTURE  XL 

The  Pre-eminence  of  the  Bible  for   the  Influences  of  the 
Holy  Spirit 305 

LECTURE  XII. 

The  Obligations  of  the  World  to   the   Bible  for  the  Sab- 
bath        330 

LECTURE  Xni. 

The  Influence  of  the  Bible  on  Human  Happiness  .         354 

LECTURE  XIV. 
Conclusion         ........         380 


THE  OBLIGATIONS  OF  THE  WORLD  TO 
THE  BIBLE. 

LECTURE  I. 


THE  USE  OF  ORAL  AND  WRITTEN  LANGUAGE  TO 
BE  ATTRIBUTED  TO  A  SUPERNATURAL  REVELA- 
TION. 


"  Whoever,"  says  the  celebrated  Tholuck^  "  who- 
ever stands  on  a  lofty  mountain,  should  not  look 
merely  at  the  gold  which  the  morning  sun  pours 
on  the  grass  and  showers  at  his  feet  5  but  he 
should  sometimes  also  look  behind  him  into  the 
deep  valley  where  the  shadows  still  rest,  that  he 
may  more  sensibly  feel  that  sun  is  indeed  a  sun. 
Thus  is  it  also  salutary  for  the  disciple  of  Christ, 
at  times,  from  the  kingdom  of  Hght  to  cast  forth 
a  glance  over  the  dark  stage  where  men  play  their 
part  in  lonely  gloom,  without  a  Saviour,  without 
a  God !"  The  inquiry  has  no  doubt  often  occurred 
to  every  reflecting  mind,   What   had  the  condi- 

2 


14       ORAL  AND  WRITTEN  LANGUAGE. 

tion  of  the  world  now  been,  had  no  supernatu- 
ral revelation  ever  been  imparted  to  men  ?  The 
design  of  these  Lectures,  my  young  friends,  is  to 
call  your  attention  to  the  Bible,  and  to  exalt  and 
honour,  in  your  estimation  and  my  own,  this  Great 
Book.  The  most  fearful  blow  that  can  be  direct- 
ed against  the  best  interests  of  men,  is  aimed  by  un- 
behef;  and  owes  its  succes  not  unfrequently  to  an 
imperfect  knowledge  of  the  Bible,  as  well  as  neg- 
lect of  its  sacred  precepts.  Can  then  a  higher 
service  be  performed  for  the  youth  of  our  metrop- 
olis than  to  vindicate  its  claims,  assert  its  superi- 
ority, and  challenge  for  it  the  scrutiny  of  the  in- 
credulous, and  the  admiration  of  every  devout 
mind? 

We  look  for  greatness  in  all  the  works  of  God. 
We  gaze  upon  the  exterior  universe,  and  ex- 
claim with  the  Psalmist,  "  Marvellous  are  thy 
works.  Lord  God  Almighty ;  in  wisdom  hast  thou 
made  them  all!"  We  expect  a  supernatural  rev- 
elation to  exhibit  its  Divine  author  in  the  same 
illustrious  and  splendid  character  in  which  he 
appears  in  the  works  of  creation  and  providence. 
Nor  are  such  expectations  disappointed  or  deceiv- 
ed. Infinite  intelligence  belongs  to  the  Deity. 
We  see  it  in  his  works,  and  we  see  it  in  his  word. 
At  the  first  glance,  we  can  scarcely  fail  to  per- 
ceive that  the  God  of  creation  and  providence  is 
the  God  of  the  Bible,  and  that  the  system  of 
truth  revealed  in  the  Scriptures  must  have  ori- 
ginated with  the  same  being  who  created  and  gov- 


ORAL    AND   WRITTEN    LANGUAGE.  15 

ems  the  world.*  When,  however,  we  examine  the 
Bible  carefully  and  minutely  5  when  we  explore 
the  treasures  of  its  pages,  and  seem  for  the  mo- 
ment to  grasp  the  full  measure  of  its  wonders  and 
its  knowledge  5  how  is  our  admiration  heightened ! 
The  words  of  the  apostle  break  almost  instinctive- 
ly from  our  lips  5  the  expression  of  his  feelings  be- 
comes the  best  expression  of  our  own, — "  O  the 
depth  of  the  riches  both  of  the  wisdom  and  the 
knowledge  of  God !" 

It  was  the  remark  of  a  sensible  and  thinking 
layman,  many  years  ago  made  to  the  writer,  that 
"  it  sometimes  seemed  to  him  that  the  Bible  is  as 
much  greater  than  all  other  books,  as  its  author 
is  greater  than  all  other  authors."  I  am  well 
persuaded  that  the  seeming  extravagance  of  such 
an  observation  will  diminish  with  our  increasing 
acquaintance  with  this  wonderful  volume.  Tin- 
dal^  a  deistical  writer  in  the  early  part  of  the 
seventeenth  century,  in  his  work  entitled, "  Christi- 
anity as  old  as  the  Creation"  labours  to  show  that 
it  was  impossible  for  God  to  teach  men  what 
they  did  not  know  before,  and  that  the  perfection 
of  the  human  mind  is  such  that  it  admits  of  no 
addition  from  a  supernatural  revelation.  I  cannot 
but  hope  that  the  presumption  and  preposterous- 


*  The  spirit  of  this  remark  is  largely  illustrated  in  that  in- 
comparable  work,  The  Analogy  of  religion,  natural  and  reveaU 
ed,  to  the  constitution  and  course  of  nature,  by  Joseph  But- 
ler, L.  L.  D. 


16  ORAL    AND    WRITTEN    LANGUAGE. 

ness  of  this  remark  will  appear  in  the  following 
pages.  It  is  not  surprising  that  a  deist  should 
depreciate  a  supernatural  revelation.  But  it  is 
matter  of  surprise  that,  as  Christians,  we  should 
not  appreciate  it  more  highly.  There  is  no  book 
in  any  country,  in  any  language,  in  any  age,  that 
can  be  compared  with  this.  From  one  page  of 
this  wonderful  volume,  more  may  be  acquired, 
than  reason  or  philosophy  could  acquire  by  the  pa- 
tience and  toil  of  centuries.  The  Bible  expands 
the  mind,  exalts  the  faculties,  developes  the  pow- 
ers of  the  will  and  of  feeling,  furnishes  a  more 
just  estimate  of  the  true  dignity  of  man,  and 
opens  more  sources  of  intellectual  and  spiritual  en-, 
joyment  than  any  other  book.  Science  and  litera- 
ture have  taken  deep  root  in  this  consecrated  soil. 
No  book  furnishes  so  many  important  hints  to  the 
human  mind  5  gives  so  many  clues  to  intellectual 
discovery,  and  has  so  many  charms  in  so  many 
departments  of  human  inquiry.  In  whatever 
paths  of  science,  or  walks  of  human  knowledge 
we  tread,  there  is  scarcely  a  science,  or  pursuit  of 
permanent  advantage  to  mankind,  which  may  not 
either  trace  its  origin  to  the  Bible,  or  to  which 
the  Bible  will  not  be  found  to  be  a  powerful  aux- 
iliary. 

Whether  we  consider  its  influence  upon  an  oral 
and  written  language — upon  history  and  literature 
— upon  laws  and  government — upon  civil  and  re- 
ligious liberty — upon  the  social  institutions — upon 
moral  science  and  the  moral  virtues — upon  the 


ORAL    AND    WRITTEN    LANGUAGE.  17 

holiness  which  fits  men  for  heaven,  and  the  pecu- 
Har  spirit  and  exalted  character  which  prepares 
them  to  act  well  their  part  on  the  earth-^upon 
the  happiness  they  enjoy  in  the  present  world — or 
upon  the  agency  and  power  by  which  these  desir^ 
able  results  are  secured  j  we  shall  be  at  no  loss  to 
see  that  the  world  in  which  we  live  is  under  ever- 
lasting obligations  to  a  supernatural  revelation. 
In  this  enumeration  of  topics,  you  have  the  genC' 
ral  outline  of  the  following  lectures. 

The  present  opportunity  will  be  devoted  to  the 
thought,  that  the  use  of  oral  and  written  language 
is  to  be  attributed  to  a  supernatural  revelation. 
The  art  most  necessary  for  man,  even  from  the 
commencement  of  his  existence,  must  have  been 
language.  If  not  an  indispensable  instrument 
of  thought,  yet  without  it,  his  mind  must  of  ne- 
cessity be  confined  within  a  very  narrow  and 
limited  range.  His  most  immediate  wants,  the 
play  of  various  passions,  and  perhaps  an  imperfect 
and  incoherent  narrative  might  be  indicated  by 
signs  and  the  expression  of  his  features.  Commu- 
nications less  apparent  than  these — those  shades 
of  emotion,  those  fainter  recollections,  and  above 
all,  those  more  intricate  combinations  of  thought 
arising  from  the  experience  of  others,  as  compared 
with,  and  confirming,  modifying,  or  refuting  his 
own,— these  must  be  debarred  him  until  he  is  in 
possession  of  an  oral  language. 

And  how  could  man  ever  have  invented  articu- 
late speech  ?    Universal  observation  shows  that  chil- 

2* 


18  ORAL    AND    WRITTEN    LANGUAGE. 

dren  learn  to  speak  by  imitation  j  and  "  where  the 
opportunities  of  imitation  are  wanting,  the  use  of 
articulate  speech  is  unknown."  If  I  mistake  not, 
it  is  a  fact  well  ascertained  that  not  an  instance  is 
found  of  the  use  of  articulate  sounds  as  the  signs 
of  thought,  unless  taught  immediately  by  God,  or 
gradually  by  those  who  had  themselves  been  in- 
structed. We  see  not  how  it  is  possible  for  lan- 
guage to  have  been  of  human  invention.  Its 
structure  is  too  complicated  and  artificial.  It 
must  have  required  the  previous  use  of  language 
to  have  constructed  the  most  simple  language  of 
the  most  uninstructed  tribes.  And  whence  is  it, 
if  language  were  of  human  invention,  that  the  old- 
est languages  are  more  complete  in  their  structure 
than  those  languages  that  have  been  more  recently 
formed  5  and  why,  as  we  mark  the  progress  of  im- 
provement, are  we  not  carried  back  to  some  early 
and  rude  state  of  this  invention  ? 

The  use  of  language  is  so  necessary  to  the  con- 
venience and  comfort  of  man,  and  the  difficulty  of 
forming  it  so  obvious,  that  it  is  not  unreasonable 
to  suppose  it  would  be  immediately  conferred  up- 
on him  by  the  Author  of  his  existence.  He  had 
a  body  "curiously  and  wonderfully  made,"  and 
a  mind  so  capacious,  strong,  and  penetrating,  as 
to  have  been,  before  his  apostacy,  the  greatest,  as 
well  as  the  best  of  men :  and  yet,  must  this  "  no- 
blest work  of  God"  have  been,  very  imperfect 
without  speech.  Nor  is  it  easy  to  see  how  his  at- 
tainments  could  have  been  so  surprisingly  great 


ORAL    AND    WRITTEN    LANGUAGE.  19 

and  rapid,  or  how  his  intellectual  endowments 
could  have  been  so  successfully  cultivated  as  we 
know  they  were,  if  he  had  been  originally  ignorant 
of  all  language. 

But  while  the  nature  of  the  case  might  con- 
vince us  that  language  is  of  divine  origin,  when 
we  look  into  the  Mosaic  history,  that  convic- 
tion must  be  confirmed.  There  we  learn  that 
the  laics  given  to  our  first  parents  were  given 
through  the  medium  of  language.  They  obvious- 
ly conversed  with  God  and  with  one  another. 
Nor  have  we  any  intimation  that  this  intercourse 
was  conducted  in  any  other  way  than  by  an  oral 
language.  The  early  worship  of  our  first  parents 
could  not  have  been  purely  mental  and  meditative  5 
but  oral,  and  in  the  noblest  language  ever  uttered 
by  man.  We  learn  too,  that  our  progenitor 
very  early  gave  names  to  all  the  animal  creation. 
It  was  by  the  channel  of  an  oral  language  also, 
that  the  Tempter  infused  the  first  taint  of  sin  into 
the  bosom  of  man,  breathing  his  poison  with  his 
words.  It  seems  indeed  to  be  more  generally 
conceded,  that  the  first  use  of  oral  language  is  to 
be  attributed  to  a  supernatural  revelation.  There 
are  exceptions  to  this  opinion,  but  it  is  very  dif- 
ficult to  give  any  other  tolerable  account  of  the 
origin  of  this  art.* 


*  This  topic  is  discussed  at  length  by  Herder  on  the  origin  of 
language  ;  by  Suckford  in  his  connexions  ;  by  Condiliac  on  the 
origin  of  Human  knowledge ;  by  Smith  in  his  Theory  of  Moral 


20       ORAL  AND  WRITTEN  LANGUAGE. 

The  researches  of  the  most  accredited  philolo- 
gists go  far  to  support  this  opinion.  The  more 
critically  modern,  as  well  as  ancient  languages 
are  investigated,  the  more  are  they  found  to  re- 
semble each  other  in  their  roots  and  primary 
forms,  and  the  more  clearly  are  referable  to  one 
common  stock.  The  languages  which  prevailed 
in  all  the  South  'of  Europe  after  the  destruction 
of  the  Roman  Empire,  were  a  barbarous  mixture 
of  the  Latin  with  the  different  languages  of  the 
Northern  invaders.  The  modern  languages  of 
Europe  have  all  evidently  been  derived  from  the 
Roman;  the  Roman  from  the  Greek,  and  the 
Greek  from  the  Phoenician.  Goguet^  in  his  Ori- 
gin of  laws^  arts  and  sciences^  remarks  that 
"  the  comparison  of  the  Phcenician  and  Greek  Al- 
phabet would  alone  be  sufficient  to  convince  us  of 
this.  It  is  visible  that  the  Greek  characters  are 
only  the  Phoenician  letters  turned  from  right  to 
left."  Authorities  might  be  greatly  multiplied  to 
show  that  the  Phoenicians  spoke  a  dialect  of  the 
Hebrew,  The  Chaldee,  Syriac,  and  Samaritan 
are  also  dialects  of  the  Hebrew,  without  any  con- 
siderable  deviation,   or    many   additional   words. 


Sentiment ;  by  Magee  in  a  valuable  note  to  his  work  on  Atone- 
ment and  Sacrifice  ;  by  the  Edinburgh  Encyclopedia,  article  Lan- 
guage  ;  by  Dr.  Samuel  S.  Smith ;  by  Stilingjleet,  in  his  Orignae 
Sacrae  ;  in  the  Boylean  Lectures  ;  in  Beanie's  Theory  of  Lan- 
guage ;  in  the  Scholar  Armed ;  in  Woolastxm!s  ReUgion  of  Na- 
ture, and  in  Winder''s  History  of  Knowledge. 


ORAL  AND  WRITTEN  LANGUAGE.       21 

There  is  a  striking  similarity  also  between  the 
Ethiopic  and  the  Hebrew  5  the  Hebrew  and  the 
Arabic,  and  the  Arabic  and  the  Persic.  There 
are  strong  analogies  between  the  Sanscrit  and  the 
Hebrew,  and  between  the  Hebrew  and  the  Cop- 
tic 5  while  the  Coptic  is  identified  with  the  ancient 
Egyptian.  Dr.  Lightfoot^  whom  Adam  Clarke 
pronounces  to  have  been  the  first  scholar  in  Eu- 
rope, is  of  the  opinion  that  the  original  tongue 
was  Hebrew  j  that  this  was  the  language  spoken 
in  Canaan  before  the  time  of  Joshua  j  that  it  was 
the  language  of  Adam  and  the  language  of  God. 
"  God"  says  he,  "  was  the  first  founder  of  it,  and 
Adam  was  the  first  speaker  of  it.  It  began  with 
the  world  and  the  Church,  and  increased  in  glory 
till  the  captivity  in  Babylon.  The  whole  language 
is  contained  in  the  Bible,  and  no  other  book  con- 
tains in  it  an  entire  language."* 

The  German  scholars  of  the  present  century 
would  present  much  the  same  account,  while  they 
seem  to  hesitate  in  expressing  the  opinion  that  the 
Hebrew  is  the  mother  tongue.  We  learn  from 
them  that  the  modern  languages  of  Europe,  to- 
gether with  the  Gothic,  Sclavonic,  Greek  and 
Latin  are  discov.ered  to  bear  a  close  affinity  j  and 
under  the  name  of  Indo-European^  are  classed 
with  them  in  one  family.  Between  these  and  the 
Semitic  family,  which,  among  others,  includes  the 


*  Lightfoot's  Works. 


22  ORAL    AND    WRITTEN    LANGUAGE. 

Hebrew,  Chaldaic,  Syriac  Samaritan,  Ethiopic 
and  Arabic,  striking  analogies  are  discovered,  and 
by  every  new  research  they  are  becoming  more 
fully  identified.  Wiseman^  a  learned  Romanist, 
says,  that  the  decision  of  the  academy  of  St. 
Petersburgh  upon  the  celebrated  paper  of  count 
Goulianoff  was,  that  all  languages  are  to  be  con- 
sidered as  dialects  of  one  now  lost.  I  am  at  a 
loss  to  understand  the  ground  of  this  uncertainty. 
The  Chaldee  and  Syriac  were  formerly  one  lan- 
guage, only  they  were  written  with  a  different 
character  5  and  they  were  both  dialects  of  the 
Hebrew.  The  hypothesis,  for  it  is  an  hypothesis 
merely,  that  the  book  of  Job  is  older  than  the 
Pentateuch  and  was  written  in  Arabic,  seems  in- 
deed to  countervail  the  position  that  the  Hebrew 
is  the  first  written  language.  And  yet  Lightfoot 
unhesitatingly  affirms  that  the  Arabic  is  a  dialect 
of  the  Hebrew,  and  that  "  all  languages  are  indebt- 
ed to  this,  and  this  to  none."  This  much  how- 
ever may  be  confided  in,  that  both  believers  and 
unbelievers  in  the  Mosaic  history  have  affirmed 
the  original  unity  of  all  language  5  disclaiming 
the  notion  that  men  are  of  entirely  distinct  races, 
and  thus  far  corroborating  the  position  that  the 
same  divine  source  of  the  physical  organs  of 
speech  imparted  to  man  the  knowledge  of  their 
use  and  power. 

The  first  method  of  rendering  thought  visible 
was  by  pictures,  symbols,  and  the  various  kinds  of 
ideagraphic  writing.     But  there  is  a  marked  dis- 


ORAL  AND  WRITTEN  LANGUAGE.       23 

tinction  between  these  imperfect,  and  elementary 
forms  and  Alphabetical  writing.  This  is  a  sys- 
tem which  is  expressive  primarily  of  sound  rather 
than  of  thought.  Instead  of  employing  characters 
as  multifarious  as  the  different  objects  to  be  point- 
out,  it  makes  visible  by  the  combination  of  a  few 
elements  of  sound,  every  idea  which  the  mind  is 
capable  of  conceiving. 

From  our  familiarity  with  this  art,  it  is  not  easy 
for  us  to  appreciate  its  importance.  The  extreme 
simplicity  by  which  results  so  complicated  are  at- 
tained, bears  a  strong  analogy,  not  to  the  works  of 
man's  invention,  but  to  the  operations  of  the  God 
of  nature,  distinguished  as  they  are,  not  less  by 
the  fewness  and  simplicity  of  their  agents,  than 
their  astonishing,  nay  unlimited  combinations. 
Were  we  now  in  possession  only  of  such  a  mode 
of  writing  as  distinguished  the  ancient  Egyptians, 
or  the  Mexicans  upon  the  discovery  of  this  conti- 
nent, and  as  distinguishes  the  Chinese  at  the  pre- 
sent day ;  and  should  some  gigantic  mind  penetrate 
the  mysteries  of  sound,  embody  them  and  give 
them  form,  and  present  to  us  our  simple  Al- 
phabet, the  first  lesson  of  our  childhood,  and  ex- 
plain to  us  its  combinations  and  its  uses  j  what 
honours,  I  had  almost  said,  what  veneration  should 
we  withhold  from  him  ! 

The  claims  of  most  nations  to  this  singular  dis- 
covery arise  solely  from  their  supposed  antiquity. 
And  yet  is  it  a  somewhat  remarkable  fact,  that 
some  of  the  most  ancient  nations  remained  desti- 


24  ORAL   AND   WRITTEN   LANGUAGE. 

tute  of  this  art  long  after  it  had  prevailed  in  ad- 
jacent countries.*  Dr.  Mc  Knight  remarks  that 
"the  literal  method  of  writing,  is  generally  said 
to  have  been  first  practised  by  the  Phoenicians  5" 
though  he  himself  countenances  the  idea  that 
the  first  specimen  of  the  art  was  that  on  the 
tables  given  to  Moses.  But,  it  may  be  shown 
with  the  utmost  degree  of  probability  that  the 
Phoenician  Alphabet  was  derived  from  the  He- 
brew. A  learned  writer  in  the  Edinburgh  En- 
cyclopsedia  expresses  the  opinion,  "  that  the  pre- 
tensions of  the  Phoenicians  must  give  way  to  the 
better  established  claim  of  the  Hebrews."  Go- 
guet  thinks  it  more  probable  that  this  invention 
is  to  be  ascribed  either  to  the  Assyrians,  or  the 
Egyptians.  It  is  true  that  the  Assyrians  were  a 
more  ancient  people  than  the  Hebrews  j  but, 
their  antiquity  extended  beyond  the  period  when 
letters  were  invented.  On  the  mere  ground  of 
antiquity,  they  have  a  higher  claim  than  any 
other  nation.     But  I  have  found  no  evidence  in 


*  The  leading  authors  to  which  I  have  had  access  on  this  gene- 
ral  subject  are  Winder's  History  of  Knowledge — GogueVs  Origin 
of  Laws — Dugald  Stewart's  Dissertation  prefixed  to  the  Encyclo- 
paedia Brittanica — the  Edinburgh  Review  for  1836, — the  works 
of  Lightfoot — Astle  on  the  origin  and  progress  of  writing — War- 
burton's  Divine  Legation  of  Moses — Gilbert  Wakefield's  Disser- 
tation  on  Alphabetical  writing — Daubuz  on  the  Revelation — and 
also  some  valuable  thoughts  at  the  close  of  the  last  volume  of 
Dr.  Mc  Knight  on  the  Apostolic  Epistles. 


ORAL    AND    WRITTEN    LANGUAGE.  25 

in  favour  of  their  claims  except  this.  On  the  con- 
trary, the  best  authorities  dispute  their  pretensions. 
With  regard  to  Egypt,  more  may  be  said  in  in- 
vaHdating  its  claims  to  this  invention  than  has  been 
said  against  those  of  Phoenicia  and  Assyria.  Is 
there  not  a  sort  of  literary  mania  which  has  led 
so  many  renowned  men  to  ascribe  almost  all  that 
is  valuable  in  literature,  science,  or  the  arts  to 
Egypt  ?  Though  comparatively  a  very  incompe- 
tent judge  of  matters  of  this  sort,  I  have  never 
been  so  convinced  as  some  have  been  of  the  supe- 
riority of  this  degraded  and  pagan  empire.  Egypt 
"  owed  her  splendour  to  strangers,  rather  than  to 
her  own  vigorous  and  nourished  intellect."  Scy- 
thia  rivalled  her  in  arms.  Tyre  in  commerce,  Syria 
in  letters,  Chaldea  in  astronomy,  and  Babylon  in 
every  department  of  natural  science.  Dr.  Delaney 
in  his  Life  of  David,  expresses  the  opinion  that 
the  great  models  of  Grecian  architecture,  are  not, 
as  has  more  generally  been  supposed,  to  be  traced 
to  Egypt,  but  to  that  most  perfect  of  all  models, 
the  Temple  at  Jerusalem,  the  entire  plan  of  which 
was  given  to  David  by  God  himself.  The  hiero- 
glyphics of  the  ancient  Egyptians  were  never 
brought  to  such  a  state  of  perfection  as  to  consti- 
tute a  system  of  phonetic  writing.  They  remain 
to  the  present  day  5  and  they  are  almost  useless 
and  silent,  because  they  represent  none  of  the  ele- 
ments of  articulation,  and  bear  no  analogy  to  any 
other  system,  whether  ancient  or  modern.  What- 
ever may  have  been  their  learning  of  other  kinds, 

3 


26  ORAL    AND    WRITTEN    LANGUAGE. 

the  Egyptians  never  possessed  Alphabetical  writ- 
ing ;  they  were  "  contented  with  their  hieroglyphi- 
cal  method  and  never,  of  themselves,  advanced  be- 
yond it."  The  same  may  be  remarked  of  the 
Chinese  even  at  the  present  day.  It  is  a  point 
well  established  that  the  elements  of  their  writing, 
or  keys  as  they  are  termed,  are  merely  symbolical, 
and  could  never  have  given  rise  to  any  one  of  the 
Oriental  alphabets.  It  is  "purely  an  artificial 
structure  which  denotes  every  idea  by  its  appro- 
priate sign  without  any  relation  to  the  utterance. 
It  speaks  to  the  eye  like  the  numerical  cyphers  of 
the  Europeans,  which  every  one  understands  and 
utters  in  his  own  way."  Modern  authors  seem 
generally  to  agree  in  tracing  the  pervading  igno- 
rance of  this  people  to  this  fact.  Neither  can  the 
claims  of  the  Hindoos  be  defended  on  any  better 
grounds  than  those  of  the  nations  already  named. 
Sir  William  Jones  has  clearly  made  it  appear  that 
the  Hindoo  pretensions  to  antiquity  are  excessively 
extravagant,  if  not  altogether  fabulous.  Events 
which  they  used  to  fix  at  a  date  of  some  million 
or  two  years  back,  actually  took  place  in  the  tenth, 
or  eleventh  century  of  the  Christian  era.  Their  fa- 
mous astronomical  tables,  by  which  it  has  been 
imagined  that  great  antiquity  might  be  assigned  to 
this  nation,  are  shown  to  be  incorrect,  and  to  have 
been  calculated  backwards.  It  has  been  satisfac- 
torily proved  that  the  Treatise  which  they  con- 
sider the  most  ancient  in  the  world,  must  have 
been  compiled  since  the  Christian  era. 


ORAL    AND    WRITTEN    LANGUAGE.  27 

Though  no  man  is  warranted  in  speaking  with 
confidence  on  this  subject,  yet  is  there  not  some 
good  reason  to  beheve  that  the  earhest  specimens 
of  a  written  language  came  from  the  Hebrews  1 
Is  there  not  presumptive  evidence  of  this,  in  the 
mere  fact  that  the  first  oral  language  was  the  He- 
brew ?  If  the  Hebrew  language  was  the  lan- 
guage originally  imparted  to  men  j  if  it  was  pre- 
served through  all  the  corruptions  of  the  antedilu- 
vian world,  through  the  division  of  the  family  of 
Noah  in  the  time  of  Peleg,  and  through  the  sub- 
sequent confusion  of  tongues  5  if  it  was  the  lan- 
guage in  which  God  spoke  to  Abraham  and  to 
Moses,  and  in  which  Moses  conveyed  the  revela- 
tion of  the  divine  will  to  mankind  j  is  there  not 
some  strong  presumption  in  favour  of  the  idea  that 
it  was  the  first  written  language  ? 

Notwithstanding  the  efforts  of  the  infidels  of  Ger- 
many, who  have  endeavoured  to  show  that  alpha- 
betical writing  was  not  in  use  at  all  even  so  early  as 
the  time  of  Moses,  it  will  not  be  denied  except  by 
infidels  of  the  boldest  class,  that  the  Hebrew  char- 
acters existed  in  a  perfect  state  when  this  inspired 
author  wrote  the  Pentateuch.  Dr.  Winder,  in  his 
History  of  knowledge,  maintains  the  position,  that 
the  art  of  alphabetical  writing  was  communicated 
to  Moses  when  the  Great  Lawgiver  gave  him 
the  law  upon  mount  Sinai.  The  considerations 
which  support  this  hypothesis,  to  say  the  least, 
amount  to  strong  presumption  in  its  favour.  With 
two  exceptions  writing  is  not  even  apparently 


28       ORAL  AND  WRITTEN  LANGUAGE. 

mentioned  in  the  Scriptures  before  the  giving  of 
the  law,  and  these  as  we  shall  presently  show,  may 
not  invalidate  the  hypothesis  of  which  we  are 
speaking.  There  was  no  such  thing  as  writing 
known  before  the  flood,  nor  is  there  any  mention 
made  of  it  in  the  book  of  Genesis  before  that 
period.  Nor  was  it  known  from  the  time  of  the  flood 
to  the  time  of  Abraham's  leaving  Chaldea.  Nor 
was  it  known  in  Canaan  at  the  death  of  Sarah, 
and  when  Abraham  bought  the  cave  of  Ephron 
of  the  sons  of  Heth.  Goguet  remarks,  that  "  all 
deeds  among  the  Hebrews  at  that  time  were 
verbal,  and  were  authenticated  and  ascertained  by 
being  made  in  presence  of  all  the  people."  Nor 
was  it  known  at  the  time  of  Isaac's  marriage. 
Nor  was  it  known  either  in  Phoenicia,  or  Canaan, 
at  the  time  of  Isaac's  league  with  Gerar.  Nor 
was  it  known  either  in  Canaan  or  Syria,  when 
Jacob  went  to  Laban.  Nor  was  it  known  in  the 
family  of  Jacob,  while  Joseph  was  in  Egypt,  either 
during  his  servitude,  or  preferment.  Nor  was  it 
known  at  the  new  settlement  of  the  lands  after 
the  famine*,  nor  when  the  Hebrews  settled  in 
Goshen  j  nor  when  their  oppression  began,  and 
the  sanguinary  edicts  were  published.*  Though 
these  were  periods  and  transactions,  during  which 
had  alphabetical  letters  existed,  they  would  not 
only  have  been  of  the  greatest 'utility,  but  as  it 


*  See  these  positions  illustrated  and  defended  in  Winder. 


OKAL    AND    WRITTEN    LANGUAGE.  29 

seems  to  us  indispensable,  and  could  scarcely  fail 
of  being  mentioned  5  yet  are  they  not  only  not 
mentioned,  but  all  these  important  transactions, 
and  all  the  correspondence  between  the  parties, 
as  well  as  all  the  communications  from  Heaven, 
were  effected  by  verbal  intercourse. 

And  yet  there  is  a. precise  period  beyond  which 
they  are  mentioned,  and  mentioned  on  almost 
every  fit  occasion,  and  introduced  into  all  the  na- 
tional and  ecclesiastical  affairs  of  the  Jewish  people. 
That  period  is  the  inscription  of  the  law  on 
Mount  Sinai  by  the  hand  of  God,  on  the  two 
tables  of  stone. 

After  this  period,  Moses  is  commanded  to  write 
the  laws  in  a  book  5  to  write  the  narrative  of  the 
war  with  the  Amalekites  *,  to  write  a  copy  of  the 
law  for  future  kings  j  to  record  the  laws  that  they 
might  be  read  5  and  to  place  a  copy  of  them  in 
the  ark  of  the  covenant.  After  this  period  also, 
and  not  before,  as  a  close  examination  of  the 
whole  passage  most  clearly  shows,  we  read  of  the 
engraving  of  the  nmnes  of  the  twelve  tribes  on 
the  breast  plate  of  judgment,  and  of  the  engra- 
ving oii  the  mitre  of  Aaron  of  the  memorable 
label,  HOLINESS  to  the  lord. 

The  giving  of  the  tables^  it  will  be  noticed  was 
a  different  thing  from  the  writing  of  the  tables. 
The  disregard  of  this  very  plain  distinction  has 
led  to  the  supposition,  that  the  charge  given  to, 
Moses  which  relates  to  the  ephod  and  breast  plate 
for  the  High  Priest,  on  which  inscriptions  were  to 


30  ORAL    AND    WRITTEN    LANGUAGE. 

be  made  like  the  engravings  of  a  signet  was  given 
before  the  law  was  written.  The  law  was  not 
given  to  Moses  until  just  as  he  was  about  to  leave 
the  mount,  at  the  close  of  the  forty  days.  But  it 
was  written  more  than  a  month  before  5  and  not 
until  after  it  was  written,  did  Moses  receive  the 
instruction  to  prepare  the  ephod  and  the  breast- 
plate of  Aaron.  Signets  are  mentioned  before 
the  writing  of  the  law,  but  there  is  no  evidence 
that  they  were  not  purely  hieroglyphic.  God  now 
required  Moses  to  engrave  on  the  mitre  of  Aaron 
letters^  as  distinctly  as  had  heretofore  been  the 
hieroglyphic  representations  of  a  signet. 

Now,  whence  is  this  perfect  silence  on  the  sub- 
ject of  alphabetical  writing,  until  after  the  super- 
natural writing  of  the  law,  and  whence  the  fre- 
quent notices  of  the  art  afterwards  ?  Is  not  the 
only  answer  to  this  question  found  in  the  fact,  that 
the  origin  of  the  art  is  to  be  attributed  to  God 
himself,  and  that  he  was  the  original  instructor  of 
Moses  during  the  forty  days  in  which  he  was  upon 
the  Mount  ? 

It  would  be  natural  to  suppose,  if  a  written  lan- 
guage were  thus  discovered  to  men,  that  there 
would  be  some  intimations  of  this  fact  in  the 
Mosaic  history.  Are  there  not  intimations  of  it  ? 
Let  us  advert  a  few  moments  to  the  narrative  of 
this  transaction  as  it  is  recorded  in  the  book  of 
Exodus.  "  And  the  Lord  said  unto  Moses,  Come 
up  to  me  in  the  Mount  and  be  there  5  and  I  will 


ORAL    AND    WRITTEN    LANGUAGE.  31 

give  thee  tables  of  stone,  and  a  law  and  com- 
mandments, which  I  have  written."  The  tables 
here  spoken  of,  it  is  obvious  were  already  pre- 
pared and  finished  at  some  previous  time.  God 
affirms  that  he  had  written  them.  Subsequently 
to  this,  we  are  told  that  "  God  gave  unto  Moses, 
when  he  had  made  an  end  of  communing  with 
him  on  Mount  Sinai,  two  tables  of  testimony, 
tables  of  stone,  written  with  the  finger  of  God." 
Just  after  this,  the  fact  is  repeated,  "  and  the 
tables  were  the  work  of  God,  and  the  writing 
was  the  writing  of  God,  graven  upon  the  tables." 
It  is  a  question  which  deserves  to  be  impartially 
considered,  whether  God  does  not  here  affirm  that 
he  himself  is  the  author  of  this  invention.  When 
a  work  is  declared  in  the  Scriptures  to  be  the 
work  of  God^  to  have  been  wrought  by  the  finger 
of  God,  the  idea  conveyed  is  that  it  is  the  pecu- 
liar work  of  God,  and  altogether  above  the  power 
of  man.  When  it  is  said  that  Israel  is  the  sheep 
of  God''s  hand,  the  meaning  is  that  they  belong  to 
God  and  to  no  other.  When  the  Saviour  says 
that  he  cast  out  devils  by  the  finger  of  God, 
we  understand  him  as  declaring  that  he  performs 
a  work  to  which  no  other  power  is  adequate  but 
the  power  of  God.  When  the  magicians  of  Egypt 
exclaimed  of  the  miracles  of  Moses,  this  is  the 
finger  of  God,  they  acknowledged  his  divine  mis- 
sion. And  so  the  Psalmist,  when  he  says,  "  when 
I  consider  the  heavens,  the  work  of  thy  fingers," 
expresses  the  idea  that,  no  other  could  create  the 


32       ORAL  AND  WRITTEN  LANGUAGE. 

heavens  but  God.  On  the  same  principle  idols 
are  the  invention  of  men,  and  are  called  the  work 
of  meii's  hands^  and  which  their  own  fingers  have 
made.  Is  it  not  then  a  fair  exegetical  inference, 
that,  when  the  law  is  declared  to  have  been  writ- 
ten by  the  finger  of  God,  the  legitimate  import 
of  the  phrase  is,  that  it  was  so  peculiarly  his  work 
that  the  original  invention  is  due  to  him. 

I  remarked  that  with  two  exceptions  writing  is 
not  even  apparently  mentioned  in  the  Scriptures 
before  the  giving  of  the  Law.  One  of  these  occurs 
just  before  the  giving  of  the  Law,  and  refers  to 
a  future  rehearsal  in  the  ears  of  Joshua  of  what 
Moses  should  subsequently  commit  to  writing  for 
the  instruction  and  encouragement  of  his  successor ; 
and  by  no  means  proves  that  the  art  of  writing 
was  known  to  Moses  before  the  time  when  the 
Law  was  written.  Especially  is  this  remark  de- 
serving of  consideration,  when  it  is  recollected 
that  it  is  no  uncommon  thing  for  the  Scriptures 
to  notice  future  events  by  this  sort  of  anticipation. 
The  other  apparent  exception  will  be  found  no  ex- 
ception at  all.  It  is  recorded  in  the  twenty-fourth 
chapter  of  Exodus.  "  And  Moses  wrote  all  the 
words  of  the  Lord: — and  he  took  the  book  of 
the  covenant  and  read  in  the  audience  of  the 
people."  It  is  said,  that  as  God  did  not  call  Moses 
up  into  the  Mount  and  give  him  the  written  tables 
until  after  this  period,  Moses  must  have  had  the 
art  of  writing  before  the  tables  were  written.  But 
the   question  is,  when  were  the  tables  written  ? 


ORAL    AND    WRITTEN    LANGUAGE.  33 

Moses  had  been  up  to  the  Mount  with  God  be- 
fore the  period  here  referred  to.  His  first  ascent 
is  noticed  as  far  back  as  the  nineteenth  chapter. 
He  had  ascended  a  second  time,  as  related  in  the 
same  chapter.  And  as  is  related  in  the  latter  part 
of  the  same  chapter,  he  had  ascended  a  third  time. 
Not  until  he  came  down  after  the  fourth  ascent, 
is  he  represented  as  writing  the  civil  and  judicial 
statutes  and  reading  them  to  the  people.  Now 
had  not  God  prepared  the  two  tables  of  the  moral 
Law  before  Moses  wrote  and  read  to  the  people 
their  judicial  code  ?  He  had  not  committed  them 
to  Moses  till  after  this,  but  when  he  did  commit 
them,  it  was  a  commitment  of  tables,  as  we  have 
already  seen  previously  prepared  j  how  long  be- 
fore no  man  can  tell.  But  it  cannot  be  shown 
that  it  was  after  Moses  wrote  and  read  the  judicial 
statutes. 

It  is  also  objected  to  this  position,  that  Job 
must  have  lived  previous  to  the  time  of  Moses,  and 
that  as  he  distinctly  refers  to  ancient  writing  by 
books  and  sculpture,  there  must  have  been  a  writ- 
ten language  before  the  giving  of  the  Law.  When 
it  shall  be  made  to  appear  that  the  book  of  Job 
was  written  at  an  earlier  period  than  the  time  of 
Moses,  it  will  be  time  enough  to  give  weight  to 
this  objection.  The  age  in  which  Job  lived,  and 
in  which  the  book  of  Job  was  written  is  unknown. 
If  the  most  distinguished  critics  may  be  relied  up- 
on, this  book  was  posterior  to  the  time  of  Moses, 
or  Moses  himself  was  its  author.     Dr.  Warburton 


34  ORAL    AND    WRITTEN    LANGUAGE. 

judges  it  to  have  been  written  about  the  close  of 
the  Babylonish  captivity.  Dr.  John  Mason  Good, 
Dr.  Winder  and  Dr.  Grey,  with  great  strength  of 
argument,  attribute  it  to  Moses.  Gregory  Nazi- 
anzen,  Spanheim,  and  Adam  Clarke  attribute  it 
to  Solomon.  Several  distinguished  writers  have 
supposed  that  the  silence  of  the  author  of  this  book 
respecting  the  destruction  of  Sodom  and  Gomor- 
rah, the  Exodus  from  Egypt,  the  passage  of  the 
Red  Sea,  and  the  promulgation  of  the  Law,  prove 
that  it  was  written  prior  to  these  events,  and  during 
the  age  of  the  early  patriarchs.  But  is  it  to  be 
supposed  that  every  book  in  the  sacred  canon 
which  does  not  refer  to  these  events,  was  written 
prior  to  these  events  themselves  ?  Two  things 
are  indispensable  to  the  conclusiveness  of  this  ar- 
gument, neither  of  which  is  known.  The  first  is, 
that  upon  the  supposition,  that  the  author  of  the 
book  of  Job,  or  Job  himself  had  lived  subsequently 
to  these  events,  he  was  acquainted  with  them  5  the 
second  is,  that  upon  the  supposition  that  he  was 
acquainted  with  them,  they  must  necessarily,  or 
even  probably  have  been  noticed  in  this  Book. 
Nor  does  the  longevity  of  Job  necessarily  place 
him  in  an  age  previous  to  the  giving  of  the  Law. 
That  he  did  not  live  in  so  early  an  age  as  that  of 
the  longeval  patriarchs  is  evident  from  two  con- 
siderations 5  in  the  first  place,  the  reference  of 
Bildad  to  the  longevity  of  that  age,  as  a  peculiari- 
ty that  distinguished  it  from  his  own,  as  appears 
from  the  8th  and  9th  verses  of  the  8th  Chapter  5 


ORAL    AND    WRITTEN    LANGUAGE.  35 

and  in  the  second  place,  there  is  no  evidence  that 
the  age  of  Job  himself  was  such  as  to  justify  the 
remark,  that  he  "  was  old  and  full  of  days,"  unless 
he  hved  long  after  the  early  patriarchs.  The 
writer  of  the  passage,  "man  that  is  born  of  a  wo- 
man is  of  few  days,  and  full  of  trouble  5  he  com- 
eth  forth  like  a  jflower,  and  is  cut  down  5  he  fleeth 
also  as  a  shadow,  and  continueth  not  5"  cannot  well 
be  supposed  to  have  lived  at  a  period  when  the 
life  of  man  was  prolonged  from  six  hundred  to  a 
thousand  years.  The  reference  to  the  flood  as  a 
very  ancient  event  is  inconsistent  with  the  suppo- 
sition that  Job  lived  anywhere  near  the  period  of 
those  who  walked  in  the  "  old  way"  and  were  "  cut 
down  out  of  time."  The  reference  to  the  law  of 
land-marks  and  pledges  rather  indicates  also 
that  the  hero  of  this  book  lived  after  the  time  of 
Moses. 

It  has  also  been  said  that  there  is  ground  for  a 
presumption  that  the  art  of  writing  was  known  be- 
fore the  time  of  Moses,  in  the  fact  that  there  were 
officers  called  Shoterim  among  the  Israelites ;  and 
that  this  word  primarily  and  properly  means  wri- 
ters. The  passage  referred  to,  is  Exodus  the  fifth 
chapter  and  sixth  verse.  "And  Pharaoh  com- 
manded the  same  day  the  task-masters  and  the 
officers,  saying,  ye  shall  no  more  give  the  people 
straw  to  make  brick."  Our  translators  translate 
the  Hebrew  word  officers,  and  most  certainly  the 
scope  and  sense  of  the  passage  would  be  violated 
by  translating  it  writers.     Adam  Clarke  says  that 


36  ORAL    AND    WRITTEN    LANGUAGE. 

the  shoterim  "  were  an  inferior  sort  of  officers, 
who  attended  on  superior  officers  or  magistrates 
to  execute  their  orders."  So  say  Patrick  and 
Rosenmuller,  who  give  at  length  the  reasons  for 
this  opinion.  And  Mr.  Poole  gives  the  same 
translation,  affirming,  with  RosenmuUer,  that  the 
secondary  meaning  of  the  word  is  scribes. 

It  appears  therefore  in  a  high  degree  probable 
that  the  art  of  writing  was  imparted  to  Moses  at 
the  giving  of  the  law.  The  hypothesis  is  certain- 
ly attended  with  fewer  difficulties  than  any  other 
which  I  have  met  with.  The  two  tables  we  are 
informed  were  written  by  the  finger  of  God  ^  and 
after  these  were  broken,  they  were  rewritten  by 
the  same  unerring  hand.  And  what  additional, 
what  overwhelming  evidence  would  it  offer  to  the 
Jewish  people  of  the  divine  origin  of  the  moral 
law,  when  these  tables  were  presented  to  them, 
inscribed  with  mysterious  and  living  characters !  If 
Moses  himself  was  unacquainted  with  the  art  of 
writing  before  he  ascended  the  mount,  the  possi- 
bility of  collusion  or  deceit  was  precluded,  and 
the  most  stubborn  minds  must  have  yielded  im- 
pHcit  confidence  in  the  divine  legation  of  their 
lawgiver.  We  find  that  notwithstanding  the 
solemnity  of  that  memorable  scene,  a  portion  of 
the  people  gave  themselves  up  to  idolatry,  even 
while  Moses  was  yet  communing  with  God  upon 
the  mount.  After  his  descent  with  the  two  tables 
in  his  hands,  as  the  final  witness  and  seal  of  his 
errand,  for  a  long  time  we  hear  no  more  of  doubts. 


ORAL  AND  WRITTEN  LANGUAGE.       37 

no  more  following  after  idols  j  and  is  it  unreason- 
able to  suppose  that  the  obstinancy  of  an  incredu- 
lous people  was  at  last  vanquished  by  the  two  tables 
of  testimony  ?  If  you  ask,  why  there  were  no  de- 
monstrations of  surprise  on  the  part  of  the  Jew- 
ish lawgiver  upon  the  revelation  of  this  art,  or  on 
the  part  of  the  people  at  its  introduction  among 
them  j  I  reply,  there  may  have  been,  though  they 
are  not  recorded.  And  even  if  there  were  not,  we 
need  not  wonder  at  this,  when  we  recollect  that 
Moses  was  with  God  forty  days  in  the  mount, 
and  especially  when  we  reflect  upon  the  prodigies 
which  nature  every  where  displayed  around  the 
people,  when  Sinai  sent  up  its  flame  and  smoke, 
and  the  voice  of  the  ever-living  God  was  heard 
amid  the  thunders  of  the  mount. 

And  is  it  not  somewhat  remarkable,  that,  if  of 
human  origin,  the  author  of  so  wonderful  a  discov- 
ery as  that  of  alphabetical  writing,  should  be  so 
utterly  lost  in  the  remote  ages  of  antiquity,  that 
no  man  can  specify  the  nation,  or  even  the  era  to 
which  it  can  be  attributed  ?  There  is  something 
quite  as  ludicrous  to  my  mind,  in  the  theories  of 
the  gradual  construction  of  alphabetical  letters,  as 
there  is  in  the  systems  of  Pagan  cosmogony.  Is  it 
reasonable  to  suppose  for  example,  that  the  old 
Shemitish  letter  D  was  suggested  by  the  word  door^ 
or  the  old  Shemitish  letter  H  by  the  yvovAfence^  and 
the  Shemitish  V  by  a  hook  or  nail  ?  And  yet  this 
system  has  very  learned  advocates.  May  we  not 
gravely  inquire  whether  the  invention  of  letters  does 

4 


38       ORAL  AND  WRITTEN  LANGUAGE. 

not  exceed  the  powers  of  man  ?  The  learned  Shuck- 
ford,  though  an  advocate  for  the  early  invention  of 
the  art,  says,  "  that  men  should  immediately  fall  on 
such  a  project,  to  express  sounds  by  letters,  and 
expose  to  sight  all  that  may  be  said,  or  thought,  in 
about  twenty  characters  variously  placed,  exceeds 
the  highest  notion  we  can  have  of  the  capacities 
with  which  we  are  endowed."  It  is  truly  a  won- 
derful art.  And  it  was  perfect  from  the  beginning  5 
nor  has  there  been  any  improvement  from  the 
days  of  Moses  to  the  present  day.  With  one  ex- 
ception all  the  Hebrew  letters  are  found  in  the 
decalogue.  Every  guttural,  labial,  lingual,  and 
dental  sound  is  here  disclosed. 

Nor  is  it  less  worthy  of  note,  that  not  an  in- 
stance is  known  in  which  any  man,  or  set  of  men, 
ever  invented  the  use  of  letters  by  their  own  un- 
aided powers. 

I  am  not  disposed  therefore  to  receive  the  opin- 
ion that  the  origin  of  letters  is  lost  in  time  5  or  that 
the  art  rose  from  small  beginnings,  and  was  gradu- 
ally improved  as  the  wants  of  men  demanded  it ; 
but  that  it  was  revealed  to  men  by  God  himself. 
Nor  is  this  at  all  a  novel  conclusion.  Among  the 
Christian  fathers,  Clemens  Alexandrinus,  Cyril  and 
St.  Augustin ;  and  among  the  moderns,  Mariana,  a 
learned  Romanist,  Dr.  John  Owen,  Sir  Charles 
Woollesly,  Drs.  Winder,  McKnight,  and  others, 
held  the  opinion  that  Moses  introduced  the  first 
Alphabet.* 

*  Vide  Winder. 


ORAL  AND  WRITTEN  LANGUAGE.       39 

In  relation  to  the  period  when  the  art  of  writing 
was  communicated  to  other  nations,  as  might  be 
well  supposed,  different  views  have  been  expressed 
by  different  men.     It  is  obvious  that  the  Hebrews 
had  no  opportunity  of  communicating  with  other 
nations   either    during   their   forty   years   in   the 
Desert,  or  the  time  of  Joshua's  conquests  or  go- 
vernment.     The    period   between   the   death   of 
Joshua  and  the  government  of  Samuel,  as  charac- 
terized by  the  reign  of  the  Judges,  was  marked  by 
great  corruption  and  degeneracy.     Milman,  in  his 
history  of  the  Jews,  well  describes  it  as  "  the  heroic 
age  of  Jewish  history,  abounding  in  wild  adven- 
ture  and   desperate   feats   of  individual   valour." 
During  this  rude  and  unsettled  period,  a  period 
of  above  four  hundred  years,  they  were  scarcely 
fitted  to  receive,  or  extend  instruction  of  any  kind. 
Under  the  government  of  Samuel,  the  literature 
of  the  nation  may  be  said  to  have  taken  its  rise. 
He  founded  a  school  of  the  Prophets  *,  he  was  the 
author  of  the  earlier  part  of  the  life  of  David  5 
and  he  wrote  a  treatise  on  civil  government,  which 
was  called  "  the  manner  of  the  kingdom,"  for  the 
instruction   of  Saul,   the   first  king.     David  was 
a  Prince   of  highly  cultivated  mind,  and  greatly 
elevated  the  nation  in  arts  and  in  arms.     It  was 
not,  however,  until  the  distinguished  reign  of  Solo- 
man,  that  the  Hebrew  state  attracted  the  atten- 
tion of  the  surrounding  nations,  and  became  as 
remarkable  for  its  wisdom,  as  for  its  wealth  and 
splendour.     The   reign   of  this  Prince   was  the 


40  ORAL    AND    WRITTEN    LANGUAGE. 

zenith  of  Israel's  glory.  It  was  to  the  Hebrew 
nation,  what  the  present  century  has  been  to  Ger- 
many 5  what  the  reign  of  Anne  was  to  Britain  5 
the  reign  of  Louis  XIV.  to  France  5  the  Pontifi- 
cate of  Leo  X.  to  Italy  5  the  reign  of  Augustus 
Caesar  to  Rome ;  and  the  influence  of  Pericles  to 
Greece.  Solomon's  court  was  the  most  splendid 
and  enlightened  court  in  the  world.  The  whole 
country  of  Palestine  was  then  classic  ground.  It 
was  a  time  of  profound  peace  j  and  the  people 
were  no  longer  the  sport  of  the  sword  and  the 
pestilence.  Agriculture  and  commerce,  lucrative 
occupation  of  every  kind,  and  unobstructed  inter- 
national intercourse  had  rendered  their  land  and 
their  metropolis  "  the  beauty  of  perfection,  and  the 
joy  of  the  whole  earth."  Never  had  the  nation 
so  favorable  an  opportunity  of  forming  and  execu- 
ting the  noblest  and  most  useful  designs,  and  of 
extending  its  influence  for  the  melioration  of  our 
race.  It  is  most  probable  that  it  was  not  until 
about  this  period  that  the  knowledge  of  letters 
passed  from  the  Hebrews  to  the  Pagan  world,  and 
especially  to  the  Phoenicians,  the  Egyptians,  and 
the  Chaldeans  j  each  of  which  had  peculiar  facili- 
ties for  becoming  acquainted  with  the  Hebrew 
language.* 

The  researches  of  able  Chronologists  give  weight 
to  this  opinion.  David  and  Solomon  were  con- 
temporaneous with  Hiram  in  Phoenicia ;  with  Ha- 


*  See  Winder. 


ORAL    AND   WRITTEN    LANGUAGE.  41 

dadezer  in  Assyria;  and  according  to  Sir  Isaac 
Newton,  with  Sesostris  in  Egypt,  and  Cadmus  in 
Greece.  Not  far  from  this  period,  we  find  that 
letters  were  introduced  into  different  Pagan  na- 
tions; and  they  gradually  became  the  habitation 
of  genius  and  learning  as  they  were  more  or  less 
remote  from  the  Holy  land. 

May  we  not  then  regard  Judea  as  the  birth  place 
of  letters  ?  Her  language  was  a  sort  of  universal 
language ;  her  central  position  had  been  reserved 
by  the  God  of  nations  in  his  division  of  the  earth, 
for  the  express  purpose  of  making  her  the  depository 
of  knowledge;  and  her  prophets,  her  historians,  and 
her  poets  were  eagerly  sought  after.  She  was  the 
most  powerful  and  the  most  accomplished  nation ; 
and  the  active,  imposing  character  of  her  inhabi- 
tants ensured  to  her  a  commanding  influence. 
Her  priests  were  learned  men,  and  their  cities 
were  like  so  many  Universities.  Nor  is  it  unrea- 
sonable to  believe,  that  to  her  belonged  the  distinc- 
tion of  serving  as  a  model  to  her  more  barbarous 
neighbours. 

The  apostle  once  said,  "  I  am  a  debtor  to  the 
Jew."  And  so  is  the  whole  literary  world.  If  the 
press  is  the  palladium  of  civilized  society  ;  if  letters 
are  the  great  hope  of  its  advancement,  and  the 
only  effectual  security  against  its  return  to  bar- 
barity and  wretchedness ;  what  do  we  not  owe  to 
this  now  scattered,  but  once  concentrated  and 
enlightened  people  ?  Whatever  may  be  the  bene- 
fits of  this  great  art  upon  the   intellectual   and 


42       ORAL  AND  WRITTEN  LANGUAGE. 

social  character,  and  upon  individual  and  public 
prosperity,  may  we  not  say,  the  honour  of  it  be- 
longs to  the  Hebrews — to  Moses  their  great  Law- 
giver— to  the  Bible  ?  Not  until  this  treasury  of 
knowledge  was  unlocked,  were  the  riches  of 
thought  diffused  through  the  nations.  It  is  not 
undeserved  homage  to  this  sacred  Book  to  say, 
that  philosophers  and  great  men  of  other  times 
Hghted  their  torch  in  Zion,  and  the  altars  of  learn- 
ing caught  their  first  spark  from  the  flame  that 
glowed  within  her  Temple. 

The  tongue  of  man  is  the  glory  of  his  frame ; 
and  the  use  of  it  was  taught  him  by  his  Maker. 
These  mysterious  letters,  too,  are  from  him.  When 
we  take  up  a  profitable  book,  we  should  recollect 
whose  hand  first  inscribed  the  living  characters. 
Every  time  we  take  our  pen  too,  to  inscribe  these 
characters  on  the  page  of  business,  or  of  friend- 
ship, we  should  recollect  with  gratitude  that  we 
owe  the  wonderful  art  to  him  from  whom  cometh 
down  every  good  and  perfect  gift. 


LECTURE  II. 


THE  LITERARY  MERIT  OF  THE  SCRIPTURES. 


We  do  not  claim  for  the  Scriptures  simply  the 
honour  of  having  given  the  world  its  letters.  This 
they  might  have  done,  and  have  left  the  field  of 
literature  barren,  and  with  all  the  difficulties  of 
cultivating  it  to  be  overcome  by  the  tedious  toil 
of  successive  generations.  But  they  open  before 
you  a  "  goodly  land,"  everywhere  fruitful  and 
luxuriant,  and  ripened  already  to  a  full  harvest. 
Mountain,  and  meadow,  and  pure  streams  diver- 
sify and  adorn  its  surface  5  and  at  each  step  a  mine 
is  disclosed,  yielding  as  it  is  explored,  new  and  ex- 
haustless  treasures.  Who  would  not  be  a  way- 
farer amid  such  scenes  ? 

If  the  Bible  is  of  human  origin,  it  must  certainly 
be  regarded  as  the  most  wonderful  effort  of  created 
intelligence.  That  there  should  be  so  perfect  a 
book  in  so  early  a  state  of  the  world ;  that  no 
volume,  either  ancient,  or  modern,  and  written  in 
the  most  advanced  and  cultivated  condition  of 
human  society,  should  compare  with  this  ancient 


44  THE    LITERARY    MERIT 

record,  originating  in  a  comparatively  rude  age  j  is 
to  my  own  mind,  a  fact  not  easily  accounted  for  on 
the  principles  of  infidelity.  The  world  is  filled 
with  books  that  are  the  product  of  the  mightiest 
sons  of  genius  5  but  they  are  sterile  and  jejune, 
deformed  and  ungainly,  in  comparison  with  the 
riches  of  thought,  the  extent  of  research,  the  ac- 
curacy, the  grace  and  beauty,  which  distinguish 
the  Bible. 

Without  the  Scriptures,  the  world  would  be 
profoundly  ignorant  of  some  of  the  most  impor- 
tant and  interesting  points  of  historical  inquiry. 
Within  the  narrow  compass  of  the  first  few  chap- 
ters in  the  book  of  Genesis,  we  are  furnished  with 
a  distinct  and  connected  history  of  more  that  two 
thousand  of  the  earliest  years  of  time.  The  nar- 
rative of  Moses  completely  covers  that  period  of 
history,  which  with  other  nations  is  called  fabu- 
lous^ and  which  is  merged  in  the  regions  of  fabri- 
cation and  conjecture.  There  are  no  ages  of  un- 
certainty here — no  regions  of  fable — no  chasm. 
From  the  first  dawn  of  the  creation  down  to  the 
capture  of  Babylon  by  Cyrus,  the  entire  period  is 
filled  up  with  events,  the  effects  of  which  are 
widely  extended  over  the  earth  and  are  visible  to 
the  present  hour. 

There  are  multitudes  of  facts  and  phenomena, 
both  in  the  natural  and  moral  world  that  never 
could  be  accounted  for,  but  for  the  Mosaic  his- 
tory 5  while  a  slight  acquaintance  with  that  history 
shows  us  how  exactly  it  is  accordant  with  the  ex- 


OF   THE    SCRIPTURES.  45 

isting  state  of  things  both  in  the  physical  and 
moral  creation.  The  creation  of  the  material 
universe,  about  which  so  much  has  been  written 
by  wise  men,  and  than  which  nothing  is  more  in- 
dicative of  folly,  is  here  given  so  succinctly,  and  so 
philosophically,  that  all  the  quibbles  of  infidehty, 
and  all  the  researches  of  natural  science,  instead 
of  invalidating,  have  only  served  to  strengthen  and 
confirm  our  confidence  that  the  narrator  was  super- 
naturally  taught  of  God. 

The  ancient  account  of  the  creation  of  the 
world  among  the  Chaldeans  was,  that  there  was  a 
time  when  all  was  water  and  darkness,  and  in  these 
were  contained  the  original  elements  of  all  future 
existence  5  that  a  woman  was  the  great  presiding 
mind  j  that  Belus  clove  her  asunder,  and  formed 
earth  of  the  one  part,  and  heaven  of  the  other  5 
that  he  divided  the  darkness,  separated  earth  from 
heaven,  and  arranged  the  order  of  the  universe ; 
that  he  then  ordered  one  of  the  gods  to  cut  off  his 
head,  to  mix  the  blood  which  flowed  from  the 
wound  with  earth,  and  of  this  mixed  mass  to  form 
men  and  animals  5  and  that  after  this,  he  framed 
the  stars  and  planets,  and  thus  finished  the  produc- 
tion of  all  things.  This  account  is  indeed  suf- 
ficiently ridiculous,  and  yet  is  it  the  sober  narra- 
tive of  Berosus,  who  was  a  priest  in  the  temple  of 
Belus  at  Babylon,  who  lived  in  the  time  of  Alex- 
ander the  Great,  and  was  the  author  of  the  history 
of  Chaldea.  The  Phoenician  Theogony  of  Sanco- 
niathan  is  still  more  ludicrous,  and  too  absurd  to  be 


46  THE    LITERARY    MERIT 

narrated  in  an  intelligent  assembly  5  but  may  be 
found  in  Eusebius,  and  Winder's  History  of  Know- 
ledge. The  Egyptian  account  as  given  by  Diodo- 
rus  Siculus,  was  that  all  beings  originally  existed 
in  a  chaotic  state;  that  the  sun  and  stars  were 
formed  by  the  continual  agitation  of  the  air  ascend- 
ing upwards  j  that  the  gross  and  earthy  matter 
sunk  below,  and  was  gradually  made  hard  by  the 
heat  of  the  sun  j  that  animals  were  created  from 
the  heat  and  moisture,  and  eventually  perpetuated, 
each,  its  own  species.  And  what  was  the  Theogony 
of  the  Greeks — the  learned  Greeks  ?  I  may  not 
utter  it  for  its  debasing  impurities.  Compared 
with  these,  and  others  such  as  these,  how  simple, 
how  rational  the  narrative  of  Moses.  "  In  the  be- 
ginning God  created  the  heavens  and  the  earth !" 
Here  is  a  cause  equal  to  the  wonderful  effect, 
while  every  view  of  the  effect  leads  to  adoring 
admiration  of  the  power,  wisdom  and  goodness  of 
the  mighty  author. 

The  formation  of  man  too  with  all  his  full 
grown  powers  of  body  and  of  mind — his  primoe- 
val  rectitude,  federal  character  and  fall — the  pro- 
mised Saviour  and  his  predicted  victories — the 
patriarchial  age — the  deluge — the  foundation  of 
the  new  world — the  settlement  of  the  mother 
country — the  division  of  the  earth — the  confusion 
of  tongues,  and  the  dispersion — the  early  settle- 
ment of  Egypt — the  rise  and  fall  of  the  Assyrian 
Empire,  even  to  the  names  of  all  its  successive 
Princes  from  the  first  to  the  last — the  origin,  pe- 


OF    THE    SCRIPTURES.  47 

culiarities  and  overthrow  of  the  Hebrew  State — 
the  progress  and  dechne  of  Canaan,  Persia,  and 
Media,  are  all  familiar  topics  of  biblical  history. 
Ancient  cities  too — Thebes, — the  No-Ammi  of 
Nahum — Nineveh,  Jerusalem,  Babylon,  with  all 
that  rendered  them  the  wonders  of  the  world, 
would  be  traced  to  the  remote  darkness  of  the 
fabulous  age,  but  for  the  Old  Testament.  The 
only  authentic  history  of  these  remote  events  and 
kingdoms,  is  in  the  Pentateuch  and  in  the  Prophets. 
Before  the  days  of  Moses,  there  were  no  histori- 
cal records  either  in  Assyria,  Egypt,  Phoenicia, 
Chaldea,  or  Greece.  No  other  historian  has  lived 
at  so  remote  a  period  as  the  exodus  from  Egypt. 
Dr.  Winder  shows  at  considerable  length,  that 
Moses  is  the  only  man  who  had  any  considerable 
materials  for  Egyptian  History  5  as  the  ancient 
learning  of  Egypt  must  have  been  chiefly  lost  by 
the  excision  of  the  first  born  and  the  disasters  of 
the  Red  Sea.  Since  the  priests,  the  more  com- 
mon depositories  of  learning,  usually  attended  in 
their  wars,  the  people  who  were  left  behind  must 
have  been  chiefly  the  common  people  5  so  that  for 
a  long  time  after  this  disaster,  Egypt  was  involved 
in  ignorance  and  darkness  5  nor  is  this  nation  sub- 
sequently mentioned  in  the  Hebrew  Scriptures, 
until  the  reign  of  Solomon.  "  Moses  was  the 
father  of  history."  Infidels  have  affirmed,  there 
were  astronomical  calculations  in  Babylon  that 
reached  back  to  a  period  much  farther  than  the 
Mosaic  history  j  which  therefore,  if  true,  invalidate 


48  THE    LITERARY    MERIT 

the  entire  account  given  by  Moses.  This  assertion 
has  received  a  very  conclusive  refutation  from  the 
astronomical  calculations  of  Bedford.  But  there 
is  a  fact  stated  by  Gillies,  in  his  history  of  Greece, 
that  confirms  the  calculations  of  Bedford.  This 
historian  states,  that  after  the  conquest  of  Babylon 
by  Alexander,  he  "  eagerly  demanded  the  astro- 
nomical calculations  that  had  been  carefully  pre- 
served in  that  ancient  capitol  about  nineteen  cen- 
turies. By  the  order  of  Alexander  they  were 
faithfully  transcribed  and  transmitted  to  Aristotle," 
who  was  the  preceptor  of  this  Prince.  And  "  they 
re-mounted  to  twenty-two  hundred  and  thirty-four 
years  beyond  the  Christian  era,"  a  period  not  even 
so  remote  as  the  deluge.  There  is  no  history  that 
can  be  so  safely  relied  on,  or  that  is  so  ancient,  as 
the  Mosaic  history.  Every  other  attempt  at  his- 
tory until  the  reigns  of  David  and  Solomon,  is  but 
a  mass  of  shapeless  re-arranged  tradition,  as  cor- 
rupt as  it  is  fabulous.  Long  after  this  time  in- 
deed, the  pages  of  writers  esteemed  the  most  au- 
thentic, are  disfigured  by  absurd  and  disgusting 
fictions.  This  defect  in  the  annals  of  earlier  times 
must  be  everywhere  and  deeply  felt,  if  we  exclude 
the  information  obtained  from  the  Bible.  There 
only  is  the  deficiency  supplied.  Sanconiathan, 
Berosus,  Ctesias  and  Manetho  are  the  oldest  hu- 
man historians  5  but  "  Moses  was  five  hundred 
years  before  the  first,  and  more  than  a  thousand 
before  the  last." 

It   deserves   also   to   be  remembered  that   the 


OF   THE    SCRIPTURES.  49 

chronology  of  the  Bible  is  definite.  The  most 
authentic  ancient  historians  abound  with  chrono- 
logical inconsistencies.  Sir  Isaac  Newton  has 
clearly  detected  great  errors  in  the  system  of  pa- 
gan chronology  by  bringing  his  powerful  mind  to 
the  study  of  the  Bible,*  The  authors  of  profane 
history  are  greatly  indebted  in  this  particular  to 
the  chronology  of  the  Scriptures.  By  a  careful 
comparison  of  its  history  with  its  prophecies,  a 
standard  is  formed  by  which  the  chronological 
errors  of  pagan  historians  have  been  rectified,  and 
the  order  of  a  great  multitude  of  dates  and  events 
satisfactorily  determined.  Nor  is  the  facility  of 
doing  this  at  all  diminished  by  the  discrepancy 
between  the  chronology  of  the  Hebrew  and 
Samaritan  text  and  the  Septuagint.  Geography 
and  chronology  have  been  well  called  the  "two 
eyes  of  history."  Nor  can  our  notions  of  history 
be  otherwise  than  exceedingly  confused,  where 
the  series  of  events  does  not  lie  before  us  in  the 
due  and  proper  order  of  time. 

What  adds  pecuHar  interest  to  the  historical 
notices  of  the  scriptures,  is  that  they  are  so  re- 
plete with  instruction  on  the  great  and  important 
subject  of  efficient  and  final  causes,  as  well  as 
moral  causes  generally.  They  bring  forward  in 
bold  relief  the  superintendant  and  all-govern- 
ing providence  of  the  most  High : — as  in  the  his- 


*  For  information  on  this  subject,  see  the  different  Encyclope. 
dias,  Bedford's  chronology,  and  Winder. 

5 


50  THE    LITERARY    MERIT 

tory  of  Joseph,  the  revolt  of  the  ten  tribes,  and 
the  books  of  Esther  and  Daniel.  They  exhibit  a 
luminous  picture  of  the  human  character  in 
every  age  and  country  with  which  they  are  con- 
versant;— as  in  the  history  of  the  antediluvian 
world,  and  the  entire  history  of  the  Jewish  nation. 
They  present  a  history  of  the  divine  purposes  and 
the  divine  government,  and  every  where  illustrate 
the  great  truth,  that  "there  is  a  God  that  judgeth 
in  the  earth,"  and  that  he  "worketh  all  things  after 
the  counsel  of  his  own  will."  They  furnish  a  his- 
tory of  the  church  for  more  than  four  thousand 
years.  They  present  as  their  great  subject  the 
all-absorbing  work  of  Redemption.  They  have 
an  object  which  they  never  loose  sight  of  5  a  cause 
to  which  they  are  always  subservient  j  principles 
which  are  developed  with  some  new  accession  of 
strength  and  beauty  on  every  page  5  a  Hero,  not 
of  mortal  nature,  whom  they  every  where  honour  5 
a  deity,  not  of  the  poet's  creation,  whom  they 
worship  with  a  pure  ritual,  and  to  whom  they  as- 
cribe eternal  praise. 

Nor  need  we  hesitate  in  saying,  that  no  work 
possesses  such  literary  merit  generally^  and  that 
has  equal  claims  to  be  considered  as  the  standard 
of  a  polished  and  useful  literature.  The  char- 
acteristic style  of  the  Bible  is,  that  it  is  always 
adapted  to  the  subjects  of  which  it  speaks.  A 
chaste,  terse,  nervous  diction  distinguishes  all  its 
compositions.  It  is  strongly  marked  by  its  simpli- 
city, its  strength,  and  often  its  unrivalled  sublimity 


OF   THE    SCRIPTURES.  51 

and  beauty.  Its  words  and  figures,  though  not  a 
few  of  the  latter  are  altogether  new,  and  probably 
never  would  have  been  thought  of  except  by  the 
inspired  mind  who  conceived  them,  and  are  even 
symbolical  and  hieroglyphic,  when  once  presented, 
are  seen  and  felt  to  accord  with  the  familiar  con- 
ceptions of  men.  Its  manner  of  writing  with  re- 
gard to  the  choice  and  arrangement  of  words,  is 
at  all  times  dignified  and  serious,  and  at  a  great 
remove  from  the  pomp  and  parade  of  artificial 
ornament.  Everywhere  we  see  that  its  great  ob- 
ject is  to  inculcate  truth^  and  that  it  uses  words 
only  to  clothe  and  render  impressive  the  thoughts 
it  would  convey.  There  is  both  rhetoric  and  in- 
spiration in  the  Bible  5  but  amid  all  the  boldness 
and  felicity  of  its  inventions,  there  is  no  overdoing 
— no  making  the  most  of  every  thing — no  needless 
comment — but  every  thing  is  plain,  concise,  and 
unaffectedly  simple. 

In  the  historical  compositions  of  the  Scrip- 
tures, we  have  the  most  simple,  natural,  affecting, 
and  well  told  narratives  in  the  world.  Witness 
the  history  of  Abraham,  Isaac,  and  Jacob  and  his 
family — the  recapitulations  in  Deuteronomy — the 
narratives  of  Ezra  and  Nehemiah — the  story  of 
the  Saviour's  trial  and  crucifixion,  and  the  life  of 
the  Apostle  Paul.  For  fidelity  and  impartiality, 
for  unvarnished  truth,  for  the  choice  of  its  matter, 
its  unity,  its  concise  and  graphic  descriptions  of 
character,  and  above  all  its  usefulness^  the  his- 
torical parts  of  the  Bible  are  without  a  parallel. 


52  THE   LITERARY   MERIT 

No  critic  can  say  of  them.  "  They  are  too  mono^ 
tonous — too  wordy — or  too  uniformly  stately,  tra- 
gical and  emphatic."  The  characters  walk  and 
breathe.  They  are  nature,  and  nothing  but  na- 
ture. By  a  single  stroke  of  the  pencil  you  often 
have  their  portrait.  You  see  them.  You  hear 
them.  Every  scene  in  which  you  behold  them  is 
a  fit  subject  for  the  painter.  And  does  it  not 
deserve  remark,  that  the  finest  subjects  for  his- 
toric painting  within  the  entire  circle  of  the  Fine 
Arts  have  been  selected  from  the  Scriptures  ? 
Such  are  Lot  and  his  two  daughters  hastened  by 
the  angels  out  of  Sodom^  and  the  Finding  of 
Moses  on  the  Nile,  by  Rembrant — Moses  striking 
the  Rock,  by  Poussin — The  Deluge,  by  Trumbull 
— Belshazzar^s  Feast,  by  Martin — The  Transfig- 
uration and  the  Madonna  by  Raphael — Moses  re- 
ceiving the  Law — Abraham  and  Isaac,  at  the  foot 
of  the  mountain — PauVs  Shipwreck — Christ  Re- 
jected— and  Death  on  the  Pale  Horse,  by  West, 
—the  Last  Supper,  by  Davinci — Christ  in  the 
Garden,  by  Guido — the  Fall  of  the  damned — 
and  the  Resurrection  of  the  Just  by  Rubens.  Ra- 
phael, the  first  painter  in  the  world,  and  who  was 
employed  so  extensively,  by  Leo  X.  painted  chiefly 
scriptural  subjects.  His  famous  Cartoons,  are  all 
scriptural  themes.  Nor  may  it  be  denied,  that 
these  and  other  similar  subjects  have  been  selected 
with  inimitable  judgement  and  taste.  None  knew 
better  how  to  make  or  prize  the  selection,  than 
these  illustrious  artists  5  for  none  brought  to  the 


OF    THE    SCRIPTURES.  53 

selection  minds  better  furnished,  or  more  intensely 
devoted  to  the  object.  I  look  upon  it  as  no  un- 
meaning compliment  to  the  Bible,  that  the  best 
Artists  have  awarded  to  it  this  distinguished  hon- 
our; and  one  reason  why  they  have  done  so, 
obviously  is,  that  profane  history  furnishes  no  such 
themes. 

Nor  do  I  know  any  thing  to  equal  the  didactic 
and  argumentative  parts  of  the  Scriptures,  espe- 
cially as  they  are  presented  in  some  of  the  Pro- 
phets ;  in  the  discourses  of  our  Saviour,  and  the 
epistles  of  Paul.  Read  the  instructions  of  the 
greatest  of  all  teachers  to  Nicodemus :  advert  to 
his  conversation  with  the  woman  of  Samaria : 
study  his  argument  to  the  complaining  Jews  in 
the  Temple,  and  to  the  deceived  multitude  that 
followed  him  across  the  sea  to  Capernaum :  turn 
to  his  discourse  to  the  people  at  Nazareth :  and 
then  read  his  farewell  address  to  his  disciples. 
Where  will  you  find  so  rich  a  vein  of  thought, 
argument,  and  alternate  rebuke  and  tenderness  ? 
There  is  nothing  in  the  compositions  of  Addison, 
the  most  neat  and  nervous  of  all  the  English  classics, 
to  be  compared  with  these,  or  with  the  Sermon  on 
the  Mount.  Nor  is  there  anything  in  the  finest 
orations  and  treatises  of  the  most  celebrated  mas- 
ters of  antiquity,  so  eloquent  as  the  glowing  pre- 
diction of  the  great  Apostle  of  the  restoration  of 
his  countrymen,  or  his  triumphant  argument  for 
the  resurrection,  or  his  bold  and  exquisitely  wrought 

description  of  the  privileges  of  the  people  of  God. 

5# 


54  THE    LITERARY    MERIT 

You  recollect  how  he  closes  the  first.  "  O  the 
depth  of  the  riches  both  of  the  wisdom  and  know- 
ledge of  God!  how  unsearchable  are  his  judg- 
ments, and  his  ways  past  finding  out.  For  who 
hath  known  the  mind  of  the  Lord  ?  Or  who  hath 
been  his  counsellor  ?  Or  who  hath  first  given  to 
him,  and  it  shall  be  recompensed  to  him  again  ? 
For  of  him,  and  through  him,  and  to  him  are  all 
things  :  to  whom  be  glory  forever  !"  I  cannot  do 
justice  to  his  illustration  and  argument  relative  to 
the  second,  without  rehearsing  a  part  of  it.  "  All 
flesh  is  not  the  same  flesh :  but  there  is  one  kind 
of  flesh  of  men,  another  flesh  of  beasts,  another  of 
fishes,  and  another  of  birds.  There  are  also  celes- 
tial bodies,  and  bodies  terrestrial :  but  the  glory  of 
the  celestial  is  one,  and  the  glory  of  the  terrestrial  is 
another.  There  is  one  glory  of  the  sun,  and  ano- 
ther glory  of  the  moon,  and  another  glory  of  the 
stars :  for  one  star  differeth  from  another  star  in 
glory.  So  also  is  the  resurrection  of  the  dead.  It 
is  sown  in  corruption,  it  is  raised  in  incorruption  j 
it  is  sown  in  dishonour,  it  is  raised  in  glory  •,  it  is 
sown  in  weakness,  it  is  raised  in  power  5  it  is  sown 
a  natural  body,  it  is  raised  a  spiritual  body.  The 
first  man  is  of  the  earth,  earthy ;  the  second  man 
is  the  Lord  from  heaven.  As  is  the  earthy,  such 
are  they  also  that  are  earthy  5  and  as  is  the  hea- 
venly, such  are  they  also  that  are  heavenly.  And 
as  we  have  borne  the  image  of  the  earthy,  we 
shall  also  bear  the  image  of  the  heavenly.  Now 
this  I  say,  that  flesh  and  blood  cannot  inherit  the 


OF   THE    SCRIPTURES.  55 

kingdom  of  God  5  neither  doth  corruption  inherit 
incorruption.  Behold  I  shew  you  a  mystery  :  We 
shall  not  all  sleep,  but  we  shall  all  be  changed  in  a 
moment,  in  the  twinkling  of  an  eye,  at  the  last 
trump :  for  the  trumpet  shall  sound  and  the  dead 
shall  be  raised  incorruptible,  and  we  shall  be 
changed.  For  this  corruptible  must  put  on  incor- 
ruption, and  this  mortal  immortality.  So  when 
this  corruptible  shall  have  put  on  incorruption,  and 
this  mortal  shall  have  put  on  immortality,  then 
shall  be  brought  to  pass  that  is  written,  death  is 
swallowed  up  in  victory.  O  death,  where  is  thy 
sting  ?  O  grave,  where  is  thy  victory  ?  The  sting 
of  death  is  sin,  and  the  strength  of  sin  is  the  law  5 
but  thanks  be  to  God,  which  giveth  us  the  victory 
through  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ!"  When  this 
author  first  presented  these  epistles  to  the  world, 
I  have  no  doubt  they  produced  impressions  of  the 
deepest  interest,  if  not  of  high  astonishment.  Some 
of  you  can  recollect  the  emotions  with  which  you 
read  them  more  than  twenty  years  ago  5  and  they 
excite  the  same  emotions  still,  except  that  they  are 
more  enlightened  and  vigorous.  You  well  recol- 
lect also  the  close  of  his  description  of  the  privi- 
leges of  the  children  of  God :  "  And  we  know  that 
all  things  work  together  for  good  to  them  that 
love  God,  to  them  who  are  the  called  according 
to  his  purpose.  For  whom  he  did  foreknow,  he 
also  did  predestinate  to  be  conformed  to  the  image 
of  his  Son,  that  he  might  be  the  first  born  among 
many  brethren.     Moreover  whom  he  did  predesti- 


56  THE    LITERARY    MERIT 

nate,  them  he  also  called;  and  whom  he  called, 
them  he  also  justified  5  and  whom  he  justified  them 
he  also  glorified.  What  shall  we  say  then  to  these 
things  ?  If  God  be  for  us,  who  shall  be  against  us  ? 
He  that  spared  not  his  own  Son,  but  freely  de- 
hvered  him  up  for  us  all,  how  shall  he  not  with 
him  also  freely  give  us  all  things  ?  Who  shall  lay 
anything  to  the  charge  of  God's  elect  ?  It  is  God 
that  justifieth.  Who  is  he  that  condemneth  ?  It 
is  Christ  that  died,  yea  rather  that  is  risen  again, 
who  is  even  at  the  right  hand  of  God,  who  also 
maketh  intercession  for  us.  Who  shall  separate 
us  from  the  love  of  Christ  ?  Shall  tribulation  or 
distress,  or  persecution,  or  famine,  or  nakedness, 
or  peril,  or  sword  ?  Nay,  in  all  these  things,  we 
are  more  than  conquerors  through  him  that  loved 
us.  For  I  am  persuaded  that  neither  death,  nor 
life,  nor  angels,  nor  principalities,  nor  powers,  nor 
things  present,  nor  things  to  come,  nor  height,  nor 
depth,  nor  any  other  created  existence  shall  be 
able  to  separate  us  from  the  love  of  God  which  is 
in  Christ  Jesus  our  Lord."  There  is  a  noble 
specimen  of  lofty  argument  and  expostulation  also 
in  one  of  the  early  books  of  the  Old  Testament 
which  I  may  not  pass  over  in  silence.  "  Gird  up 
thy  loins  now  like  a  man.  I  will  demand  of  thee, 
and  declare  thou  unto  me.  Will  thou  also  dis- 
annul my  judgments  ?  Will  thou  condemn  me  that 
thou  mayst  be  righteous  ?  Hast  thou  an  arm  like 
God  ?  or  canst  thou  thunder  with  a  voice  like  him. 
Deck  thyself  now  with  majesty  and  excellency. 


OF   THE    SCRIPTURES.  57 

and  array  thyself  with  glory  and  beauty.  Cast 
abroad  the  rage  of  thy  wrath,  and  behold  every 
one  that  is  proud  and  abase  him.  Look  on  every 
one  that  is  proud  and  bring  him  low,  and  tread 
down  the  wicked  in  their  place.  Hide  them  in 
the  dust  together,  bind  their  faces  in  secret.  Then 
will  I  also  confess  unto  thee,  that  thine  own  right 
hand  hath  saved  thee !"  There  are  several  fine 
points  in  this  passage,  but  none  more  exquisitely 
fine  than  this, — "  Cast  abroad  the  rage  of  thy 
wrath,  and  behold  every  one  that  is  proud,  and 
abase  Jiim  I  hook  on  every  one  that  is  proud, 
and  bring  him  low  V  It  is  a  lofty  challenge  from 
God  to  the  arrogance  and  power  of  man.  O  how 
impotent  compared  with  the  Almighty  One !  There 
needs  but  a  look  from  God  to  level  the  proudest 
worm.  I  know  not  where  to  find  passages  of 
equal  force,  sublimity,  and  simphcity  out  of  the 
Bible.  And  they  are  but  specimens  from  almost 
innumerable  passages  equally  brilliant.  There  is 
no  vapidness  in  such  passages  as  these,  which  palls 
on  the  taste.  Their  flowers  do  not  fade,  nor  does 
their  fruit  loose  its  freshness.  The  sacred  writers 
differ  in  this  respect  from  all  others.  These  dis- 
sertations have  long  been  published  to  the  world  j 
but  they  have  lost  none  of  their  power,  none  of 
their  grandeur  and  beauty.  They  are  always  new, 
and  more  and  more  deeply  interest  a  classical 
mindythe  oftener  they  are  read  and  the  better 
they  are  known.     No  matter  how  often  you  read 


5$  THE    LITERARY    MERIT 

them,  the  last  perusal  leaves  the  highest  relish  be- 
hind it. 

One  of  the  most  eminent  critics  has  said,  that 
"devotional  poetry  cannot  please."     If  it  be  so, 
then  has  the  Bible  "  carried  the  dominion  of  poetry 
into  regions  that  are  inaccessible  to  worldly  ambi- 
tion."    It  has  "  crossed  the  enchanted  circle,"  and 
by  the  beauty,  boldness,  and  originality  of  its  con- 
ceptions, has  given  to  devotional  poetry  a  glow,  a 
richness,  a  tenderness,  in  vain  sought  for  in  Shake- 
speare or  Cowper,  in  Scott  or  Byron.     Where  is 
there  poetry  that  can  be  compared  with  the  song 
of  Moses  at  his  victory  over  Pharaoh ;  with  the 
Psalms  of  David ;  with  the  Song  of  Solomon,  and 
with  the  prophecies  of  Isaiah  ?     Where  is  there 
an  elegiac  ode  to  be  compared  with  the  song  of 
David  upon  the  death  of  Saul  and  Jonathan,  or 
the  Lamentations  of  Jeremiah  ?     Where,  in  an- 
cient, or  modern  poetry  is  there  a  passage  like 
this  ?     "  In  thoughts  from  the  visions  of  the  night, 
when  deep  sleep  falleth  on  men,  fear  came  upon 
me  and  trembhng,  which  made  all  my  bones  to 
shake.     Then  a  spirit  passed  before  my  face :  the 
hair  of  my  flesh  stood  up. — It  stood  still,  but  I 
could  not  discern  the  form  thereof     An  image 
was  before  mine  eyes.     There  was  silence.     And 
I  heard  a  voice  saying,  shall  mortal  man  be  more 
just  than  God ;  shall  a  man  be  more  pure  than  his 
Maker  ?     Behold  he  putteth  no  trust  in  his  ser- 
vants, and  his  angels  he  chargeth  with  folly.    How 


OF    THE    SCRIPTURES.  59 

much  less  in  them  that  dwell  in  houses  of  clay, 
whose  foundation  is  in  the  dust  and  who  are 
crushed  before  the  moth !"  Men  who  have  felt  the 
power  of  poetry,  when  they  have  marked  the 
"  deep  working  passion  of  Dante,"  and  observed 
the  elevation  of  Milton  as  he  "  combined  image 
with  image  in  lofty  gradation,"  have  thought  that 
they  discovered  the  indebtedness  of  these  writers 
to  the  poetry  of  the  Old  Testament.  But  how 
much  more  sublime  is  Isaiah,  than  Milton !  How 
much  more  enkindling  than  Dante,  is  David! 
How  much  more  picturesque  than  Homer  is  Solo- 
mon, or  Job !  Like  the  rapid,  glowing  argu- 
mentations of  Paul,  the  poetic  parts  of  the  Bible 
may  be  read  a  thousand  times,  and  they  have  all 
the  freshness  and  glow  of  the  first  perusal.  Where, 
in  the  compass  of  human  language,  is  there  a  para- 
graph, which,  for  boldness  and  variety  of  meta- 
phor, dehcacy  and  majesty  of  thought,  strength 
and  invention,  elegance  and  refinement,  equals  the 
passage  in  which  "  God  answers  Job  out  of  the 
whirlwind?"  What  merely  human  imagination, 
in  the  natural  progress  of  a  single  discourse,  and 
apparently  without  effort,  ever  thus  went  down  to 
"  the  foundations  of  the  earth" — stood  at  "  the 
doors  of  the  ocean" — visited  "  the  place  where  the 
day-spring  from  on  high  takes  hold  of  the  utter- 
most parts  of  the  earth" — entered  into  "  the  trea- 
sures of  the  snow  and  the  haiP'-^traced  the  path 
of  the  thunder-bolt — and,  penetrating  the  retired 
chambers  of  nature,  demanded,  "  Hath  the  rain  a 


60  •  THE    LITERARY    MERIT 

father  ?  or  who  hath  begotten  the  drops  of  the 
dew  ?"  And  how  bold  its  flights,  how  inexpressi- 
bly striking  and  beautiful  its  antitheses,  when  from 
the  warm  and  sweet  Pleiades,  it  wanders  to  the 
sterner  Orion,  and  in  its  rapid  course,  hears  the 
"  young  lions  crying  unto  God  for  lack  of  meat" — 
sees  the  war  horse  pawing  in  the  valley — descries 
the  eagle  on  the  crag  of  the  rock — and  in  all  that 
is  vast  and  minute,  dreadful  and  beautiful,  dis- 
covers and  proclaims  the  glory  of  him  who  is  "  ex- 
cellent in  counsel  and  wonderful  in  working  ?" 
The  style  of  Hebrew  poetry  is  everywhere  forci- 
ble and  figurative  beyond  example.  The  book  of 
Job  stands  not  alone  in  this  sententious,  spirited 
and  energetic  form  and  manner.  It  prevails 
throughout  the  poetic  part  of  the  Scriptures  5  and 
they  stand  confessedly  the  most  eminent  examples 
to  be  found  of  the  truly  sublime  and  beautiful.  I 
confess  I  have  not  much  of  the  feehng  of  poetry. 
It  is  a  fire  that  is  enkindled  at  "  the  living  lamp  of 
nature,"  and  glows  only  on  a  few  favoured  altars. 
And  yet  I  cannot  but  love  the  poetic  associations 
of  the  Bible.  Now,  they  are  sublime  and  beauti- 
ful, like  the  mountain  torrent,  swollen  and  impetu- 
ous by  the  sudden  bursting  of  the  cloud.  Now 
they  are  grand  and  awful  as  the  stormy  Galilee, 
when  the  tempest  beat  upon  the  fearful  disciples. 
And  again,  they  are  placid  as  that  calm  lake  when 
the  Saviour's  feet  have  pressed  upon  its  waters  and 
stilled  them  into  peace. 

There  is  also  a  sublimity,  an  invention  in  the 


OF   THE    SCRIPTURES.  61 

imagery  of  the  Bible  that  is  found  in  no  other 
book.  Here  you  see  "  a  land  shadowing  with 
wings" — a  "  star  coming  out  of  Jacob,  and  a  scep- 
tre arising  out  of  Israel" — the  "  lion  of  the  tribe 
of  Judah" — and  the  "  tongue  of  the  Egyptian  Sea." 
— You  read  of  "  New  Jerusalem  coming  down 
from  God  out  of  heaven" — of  a  "  rain-bow  round 
about  the  throne" — of  a  ''  sea  of  glass" — and  of  a 
"  woman  clothed  with  the  Sun,  and  the  Moon  un- 
der her  feet."  Here  you  have  allegory,  apologue, 
parable  and  enigma,  all  clearly  understood  and  en- 
forcing truth  with  a  strong  and  indelible  impression. 
Here  you  have  significant  actions  uttering  volumes 
of  instruction  5  as  when  "  Jesus  called  a  little  child 
and  set  him  in  the  midst  of  his  disciples  and  said, 
except  ye  be  converted  and  become  as  little 
children,  ye  shall  not  enter  into  the  kingdom  of 
heaven" — as  when  he  cursed  the  barren  fig-tree — 
as  when  he  "washed  his  disciples  feet."  And 
where  is  there  a  comparison  like  this, — "  And  the 
heaven  departed  as  a  scroll  when  it  is  rolled  to- 
gether." Where  is  there  a  description  like  this, — 
"  And  I  saw  an  angel  standing  in  the  Sun — and  he 
cried  with  a  loiid  voice,  saying  to  all  the  fowls  that 
fly  in  the  midst  of  heaven,  come  and  gather  your- 
selves together  unto  the  supper  of  the  Great  God." 
Or  where  is  there  a  sentence  like  the  following, — 
"  And  I  saw  a  great  white  throne,  and  him  that 
sat  on  it,  from  whose  face  the  earth  and  the  heaven 
fled  away,  and  there  was  found  no  place  for  them." 
English  literature  is  no  common  debtor  to  the 

6 


62  THE    LITERARY    MERIT 

Bible.  In  what  department  of  English  literature 
may  not  the  difference  be  discovered  between  the 
spirit  and  sentiments  of  Christian  writers  and  those 
who  have  drawn  all  their  materials  of  thought  and 
of  ornament  from  Pagan  writers  ?  In  the  lan- 
guage of  an  anonymous  writer,  "  Not  to  say  that 
antiquity  furnishes  no  example  of  a  philosopher 
who  could  think  like  Newton  5  or  a  moralist  who 
could  illustrate  human  obligation  like  Edwards  or 
Johnson  5  we  find  a  proof  of  the  superiority  of 
Christian  principles  even  in  those  works  of  ima- 
gination which  are  deemed  scarcely  susceptible 
of  influence  from  rehgion.  The  common  romance 
and  the  novel,  with  all  their  fooleries  and  ravings, 
would  be  more  contemptible  than  they  are,  did 
they  not  sometimes  undesignedly,  catch  a  concep- 
tion, or  adorn  a  character  from  the  rich  treasury 
of  revelation.  And  the  more  splendid  fictions  of 
the  poet  derive  their  highest  charm  from  the  evan- 
gelical philanthopy,  tenderness,  and  sublimity  that 
invest  them.  But  for  the  Bible,  Homer  and  Mil- 
ton might  have  stood  upon  the  same  shelf,  equals  in 
morality,  as  they  are  competitors  for  renown. 
Young  had  been  ranked  with  Juvenal  5  and  Cow- 
per  had  united  with  Horace  and  with  Ovid  to 
swell  the  tide  of  voluptuousness." 

There  is  not  a  finer  character,  nor  a  finer  descrip- 
tion in  all  the  works  of  Walter  Scott,  than  that  of 
Rebekah  in  Ivanhoe.  And  who  does  not  see  that  it 
owes  its  excellence  to  the  Bible  ?  Shakespeare, 
Byron  and  Southey  are  not  a  little  indebted  for  some 


OF   THE    SCRIPTURES.  63 

of  their  best  scenes  and  inspirations  to  the  same 
source.  At  the  suggestion  of  a  valued  friend,  I 
have  turned  my  thoughts  to  the  parallel  between 
Macbeth  and  Ahab— betw^een  Lady  Macbeth  and 
Jezebel — between  the  announcment  to  Macduff  of 
the  murder  of  his  family,  and  that  to  David  of 
the  death  of  Absalom  by  Joab — to  the  parallel 
between  the  opening  of  the  Lamentations  of  Jere- 
miah and  Byron's  apostrophe  to  Rome  as  the 
Niobe  of  nations — to  the  parallel  between  his  ode 
to  Napoleon  and  Isaiah's  ode  on  the  fall  of  Sen- 
nacherib— and  also  to  the  resemblance  between 
Southey's  chariot  of  Car  mala  in  the  Curse  of  Ke- 
hama,  and  Ezekiel's  vision  of  the  wheels ;  and  have 
been  forcibly  impressed  with  the  obligations  of 
this  class  of  writers  to  the  sacred  Scriptures. 

May  it  not  be  doubted  whether  scholars  have  been 
sufficiently  sensible  of  their  obligations  to  our  com- 
mon English  Bible.  It  is  the  purest  specimen  of 
English,  or  Anglo-Saxon  to  be  found  in  the  world. 
It  was  made  by  the  order  of  James  the  I.  in  1607, 
by  forty-seven  of  the  most  able  and  learned  men 
of  Westminster,  Oxford,  and  Cambridge.  It  has 
stood  the  test  of  two  hundred  and  thirty  years  ex- 
perience and  is  a  noble  monument  of  the  integrity, 
fidelity,  and  learning  of  its  venerable  translators. 
Addison  remarks  "  There  is  a  certain  coldness  in 
the  phrases  of  European  languages,  compared  with 
the  oriental  forms  of  speech.  The  English  tongue 
has  received  innumerable  improvements  from  an 
infusion  of  Hebraisms,  derived  out  of  the  practi- 


64  THE   LITERARY   MERIT 

cal  passsages  in  holy  writ.  They  warm  and  ani- 
mate our  language,  give  it  force  and  energy,  and 
convey  our  thoughts  in  ardent  and  intense  phrases. 
There  is  something  in  this  kind  of  diction,  that 
often  sets  the  mind  in  a  flame  and  makes  our 
hearts  burn  within  us."  Nor  has  it  been  at  all 
improved  by  American  Philologists.  Was  it  too 
much  for  a  learned  Commentator  to  say,  "  Our 
translators  have  not  only  made  a  standard  transla- 
tion J  but  they  have  made  their  translation  the 
standard  of  our  language.  The  English  tongue  in 
their  day  was  not  equal  to  such  a  work.  But  God 
enabled  them  to  stand  as  upon  Mount  Sinai,  and 
crane  up  their  country's  language  to  the  dignity 
of  the  originals  j  so  that  after  the  lapse  of  two 
hundred  years,  the  English  Bible,  with  very  few 
exceptions,  is  the  standard  of  the  purity  and  excel- 
lence of  the  English  tongue." 

The  Bible  has  also  been  the  instrument  of  pre- 
serving and  diffusing  classical  learning  among  the 
most  polished  and  literary  nations.  On  the  sub- 
version of  her  fairest  temples,  ofttimes  has  litera- 
ture taken  refuge  in  the  asylums  of  Christianity. 
Since  the  Ark  that  once  contained  and  preserved 
this  sacred  book  was  destroyed,  this  hallowed 
volume  has  been  itself  the  ark  in  which  were  con- 
tained and  preserved  for  the  long  night  of  a  thou- 
sand years,  and  amid  the  rude  assaults  of  barbarous 
nations,  ''  the  treasures  of  wisdom  and  knowledge." 
More  than  once,  when  ignorance  has  enslaved  the 
human  mind,  has  the  Bible  stricken  off  its  fetters. 


or   THE    SCRIPTURES.  65 

The  scriptures  constrain  men  to  be  learned.  So 
that  while  on  the  one  hand,  literature  has  nothing 
to  lose,  but  much  to  gain  from  the  Bible,  the 
Bible  has  much  to  gain,  and  nothing  to  loose  from 
a  solid  literature.  "  A  little  learning,"  says  Lord 
Bacon,  "  tendeth  to  atheism  5  but  more  bringeth 
us  back  to  religion."  It  is  for  the  interests  of  reli- 
gion to  encourage  the  pursuit  of  science  and  lite- 
rature in  every  form  and  department.  The  more 
the  Bible  is  brought  to  the  test  of  intellectual  re- 
search, the  more  abundant  will  be  the  evidence  of 
its  superiority.  From  the  comparative  study  of 
languages,  from  the  natural  history  of  the  human 
race,  from  the  whole  circle  of  natural  sciences, 
from  early  history,  from  oriental  literature,  from 
the  most  rigid  scrutiny  of  its  most  acute  and 
learned  enemies,  it  has  nothing  to  fear.  The  igno- 
rance of  its  friends  may  give  its  enemies  a  short 
lived  triumph  5  but  it  shall  be  as  ignoble,  as  it  is 
momentary  5  and  the  weapons  by  which  it  has 
been  accomplished  shall  be  broken  and  thrown 
back,  recoiling  on  the  heads  of  those  who  wield 
them.  Should  some  future  Julian  arise,  who  should 
debar  the  friends  of  the  Bible  the  lights  of  science, 
the  unbelieving  wprld,  and  the  powers  of  darkness, 
might  be  emboldened  to  assail  it  with  new  confi- 
dence. But  I  trust  in  God  that  time  is  past.  And 
were  it  possible  that  the  world  could  again  be  sub- 
jected to  the  caprice  of  a  single  man,  and  receive 
its  laws  from  a  despot,  Jesus  Christ  is,  as  he  ever 
has  been,  "  head  over  all  things  to  the  church,"  and 

6* 


66  THE    LITERARY    MERIT,    ETC. 

will  make  all  things  subservient  to  her  interests. 
The  power  of  despots  shall  be  extended  or  dimi- 
nished, as  it  shall  ultimately  extend  or  diminish  the 
power  of  the  gospel.  Wise  men  of  the  East  shall 
again  offer  incense  to  the  child  of  Mary.  The 
Scribe  and  the  Rabbi  shall  yet  wreathe  garlands 
for  the  ark  of  the  covenant.  The  science  of 
France  and  the  learning  of  Germany  shall  become 
as  truly  tributary  to  the  cause  of  truth  and  hoh- 
ness,  as  was  the  gold  of  Ophir.  And  the  most 
illustrious  classics  of  antiquity  shall  gather  their 
freshest  bays  to  adorn  the  temples  once  crowned 
with  thorns. 

If  it  were  for  nothing  but  their  literary  merit 
therefore,  these  Scriptures  claim  the  earnest  atten- 
tion of  the  young.  I  know  of  no  standard  by 
which  the  character  of  literary  and  scientific  men 
may  be  so  safely  and  successfully  formed.  The 
more  he  reads,  the  more,  I  am  confident  an  ac- 
complished scholar  will  study  the  Bible.  There 
are  no  finer  English  scholars  than  the  men  edu- 
cated north  of  the  Tweed.  And  there  are  none 
who,  from  their  childhood  are  so  well  acquainted 
with  the  Bible.  I  have  heard  it  said  that  the  cha- 
racteristic wit  of  Scotchmen  is  attributable  to  their 
early  familiarity  with  the  Proverbs  of  Solomon. 
No  well  informed  man,  no  well  educated  family  is 
ignorant  of  the  Bible.  We  can  better  afford  to 
part  with  every  other  book  from  our  family  libraries, 
our  schools,  and  colleges,  than  this  finished  pro- 
duction of  the  Infinite  mind. 


LECTURE  III. 


THE    OBLIGATIONS    OF    LEGISLATIVE    SCIENCE    TO 
THE    BIBLE. 


Our  last  lecture  expatiated  upon  the  literary 
merit  of  the  sacred  writings.  We  purpose  at  the 
present  opportunity,  to  contemplate  the  influence 
this  remarkable  book  has  exerted  upon  human 
laws — upon  the  science  of  legislation^  and  the 
great  principles  of  jurisprudence.  From  the 
nature  of  the  subject,  it  will  be  seen  that  it  will 
more  tax  the  sober  thought  of  my  audience,  than 
the  previous  lecture,  if  it  does  not  even  tresspass 
somewhat  upon  their  patience. 

As  a  general  remark,  it  is  no  doubt  true,  that, 
like  every  other  science,  law  has  advanced  gra- 
dually to  its  present  state  of  improvement.  But 
this  remark  is  to  be  received  with  some  qualifica- 
tion. That  the  Mosaic  code  was  the  first  written 
law  ever  delivered  to  any  nation  no  man  will  deny. 
And  yet  it  was  delivered  in  a  state  of  high  per- 
fection. 


68  LEGISLATIVE    SCIENCE. 

Theoretical  philosophers  who  have  set  aside,  or 
forgotten  the  inspiration  of  the  Scriptures,  have 
taught  that  the  earlier  codes  of  law, — codes  de- 
signed for  men  in  their  wildest  state,  and  at  a 
period  of  the  world  when  their  wants  were  few 
and  simple,  their  rights  acknowledged,  and  their 
crimes  had  scarcely  begun  to  be  flagitious, — were 
necessarily  very  limited  and  very  imperfect.  They 
tell  us  that  the  first  regulations  of  human  society 
were  those  domestic  rules  which  the  father  of  a 
family  would  have  occasion  to  observe  in  the  con- 
trol of  his  household.  When  men  began  to  unite 
in  villages  and  cities,  these  more  private  regula- 
tions would  be  found  inadequate  to  restrain  a  more 
numerous  society  5  and  a  body  of  rules,  as  well  as 
an  authority  accompanied  by  greater  power  than 
the  paternal,  became  necessary.  They  tell  us,  that 
afterwards,  when  towns  and  cities  united  for  their 
common  convenience  and  defence,  the  judicial  re- 
gulations necessarily  became  multiplied  j  and  the 
supreme  authority  from  which  they  emanated,  and 
by  which  they  were  to  be  enforced,  issued  sooner 
or  later  in  different  forms  of  magistracy.  And  as 
the  conduct  of  the  wisest  and  most  just  men  would 
naturally  suggest  a  rule  of  conduct  to  others,  so 
their  counsels  and  advice  would  gradually  acquire 
force,  and  be  adopted  as  a  general  regulation. 
And  hence  they  tell  us,  that  sages  and  philoso- 
phers were  the  first  authors  of  laws. 

Now,  all  this  proceeds  upon  an  entirely  gratui- 
tous assumption  5   an   assumption  as   contrary  to 


LEGISLATIVE    SCIENCE.  69 

sober,  uninspired  history,  as  it  is  to  the  word  of 
God.  That  assumption  is  "  that  the  original  state 
of  man  was  exceedingly  degraded  5  that  he  occu- 
pied a  rank  at  first,  little,  if  any,  above  the  beasts 
of  the  field  5  and  that  having  by  his  own  exertions 
gradually  escaped  from  the  state  of  brutality  in 
which  he  was  originally  found,  he  is  in  a  constant 
course  of  improvement."  How  far  this  hypothesis 
is  at  variance  with  facts,  I  leave  believers,  and 
indeed  I  might  say,  unbelievers,  in  Divine  Re- 
velation to  determine.  Since  the  fall  of  man  from 
that  state  of  primeval  integrity  and  blessedness  in 
which  he  was  created,  unaided  by  wisdom  and 
laws  revealed  from  heaven,  the  invariable  tendency 
of  his  nature  has  been  to  sink  deeper  and  deeper 
into  darkness  and  lawless  corruption.  Hence  God 
gave  him  law  at  his  first  creation  5  and  by  oral 
communications  from  heaven,  guided  and  instruct- 
ed him  for  the  first  twenty-five  hundred  years,  un- 
til he  gave  the  Hebrew  nation  their  memorable 
code  from  Mount  Sinai. 

"If  the  foundations  be  destroyed,  what  can  the 
righteous  do  ?"  The  enactment  of  wise  laws,  and 
the  due  administration  of  justice  in  any  commu- 
nity, are  so  intimately  inwoven  with  its  best  in- 
terests, and  of  such  acknowledged  importance, 
that  they  need  not  become  the  topics  of  remark. 
Law  is  the  measure  of  right.  It  gives  every  man 
a  rule  of  action,  and  prescribes  a  course  of  con- 
duct which  entitles  him  to  the  support  and  protec- 
tion of  society.    It  teaches  men  to  know  when 


70  LEGISLATIVE    SCIENCE. 

they  commit  injury,  and  when  they  suffer  it.  Eve- 
ry just  law  is  dictated  by  reason  and  benevolence. 
Of  the  authority  to  command  and  the  obligation 
to  obedience,  the  foundation,  or  principle,  is  the 
happiness  of  those  to  whom  the  rule  is  directed. 
"  Salus  popuU  suprema  lex."  None  will  doubt  that 
the  goodness  of  all  laws  depends  upon  their  intrin- 
sic rectitude  and  benevolent  influence. 

"  The  hand  of  time  has  been  passing  over  the 
mighty  fabric  of  human  laws  for  four  thousand 
years  j"  and  yet  little  has  been  added  to  the  stock 
of  legal  science,  and  little  change  has  been  made 
in  the  most  improved  principles  of  human  juris- 
prudence since  the  days  of  Moses.  As  might  have 
been  justly  supposed,  there  have  been  great  im- 
provements in  commercial  law,  because  the  He- 
brews were  an  agricultural,  and  not  extensively  a 
commercial  people.  And  there  have  been  im- 
provements in  international  law,  because  the 
Hebrews  were,  by  divine  command,  separated 
from  other  nations.  Laws  also  have  been  changed 
by  the  condition  of  the  countries  for  which  they 
have  been  enacted;  they  have  been  extended  in 
their  specifications  5  they  have  been  modified  by 
the  character,  customs,  religion,  soil,  position,  and 
pursuits  of  different  nations ;  but  the  fundamental 
principles,  the  great  outline  of  legislative  science, 
is  found  in  the  civil  polity  of  the  Jews.  The  last 
four  books  of  the  Pentateuch  contain  the  founda- 
tions of  all  wise  legislation. 

We  have  in  the  first  instance  the  Moral  Law^ 


LEGISLATIVE    SCIENCE.  71 

comprised  within  the  short  compass  of  ten  com- 
mandments. This  law  contains  the  nucleus,  the 
germ  of  all  moral  obligation,  enforcing  the  claims 
of  the  one  only  living  and  true  God,  as  the  auto- 
crat of  the  Hebrew  nation,  and  at  the  same  time 
presenting  a  comprehensive  statement  of  the  du- 
ties which  man  owes  to  his  fellow  man.  It  was 
given,  not  through  the  intermediate  ministry  of 
their  legislator,  but  directly  to  the  assembled  na- 
tion y  not  by  the  voice  of  angels,  but  by  the  voice 
of  the  Almighty  lawgiver.  It  was  stamped  as  his 
own,  and  he  imparted  to  it  a  sacredness  and  au- 
thority suited  to  its  high  pre-eminence. 

"  Concerning  thy  testimonies,"  says  the  Psalm- 
ist, "  I  have  known  that  thou  hast  founded  them 
for  ever.  I  esteem  all  thy  precepts  concerning  all 
things  to  be  right."  The  moral  law  is  built  upon 
firm  and  immutable  foundations.  It  was  not  im- 
posed by  arbitrary  will,  but  corresponds  to  truth, 
to  the  nature  of  intelligent  beings,  and  the  rela- 
tions they  sustain  toward  God  and  one  another. 
It  is  adapted  to  all  times,  and  places,  and  intelli- 
gences 5  is  without  change,  or  abatement  j  and  is 
alike  fitted  to  earth  and  to  heaven.  It  requires 
what  human  laws  may  not  require, — perfect  holi- 
ness 5  and  it  forbids  what  man  may  not  forbid, — all 
sin.  It  has  a  province  with  which  no  human  code 
may  interfere  *,  for  it  controls  the  heart. 

It  may  deserve  inquiry.  Whether  the  moral  law 
of  the  ten  commandments  was  merely  a  moral 
law  for  the  private   government   of  individuals  ? 


72  LEGISLATIVE    SCIENCE. 

Was  it  not  a  law  contemplating  man  as  about 
forming  a  community  5  and  laying  down  certain 
rules,  not  merely  fit  for  individual  conscience,  but 
as  also  the  indispensable  requisites  of  a  social 
state  ?  In  this  sense,  they  are  not  merely  rules  of 
conduct  as  to  internal  conscience,  and  which  make 
men  responsible  to  God ;  but  rules  of  social  exist- 
ence, without  which  human  society  cannot  con- 
tinue, and  which  make  men  responsible  to  the 
State.  Do  they  not  embody,  both  rules  of  con- 
science and  the  great  principles  of  union  among 
men,  and  constitute  the  vital  basis  of  social  organi- 
zation ?  These  ten  commandments  are  indeed  a 
wonderful  code.  So  comprehensive  a  summary 
of  the  indispensable  principles  of  a  social  state, 
and  so  wonderful  a  summary  of  moral  duty,  never 
could  have  been  of  human  invention.  This  great 
moral  code  deserves  to  stand  at  the  head  of  all 
the  Mosaic  institutions,  and  through  the  people  to 
whom  it  was  originally  proclaimed,  to  address  its 
claims  to  all  the  nations  of  men. 

Next  to  this  great  moral  law,  there  is  what  may 
be  called  the  Civil  or  Political  Laws.  They 
differ  from  the  moral  law  in  several  important  par- 
ticulars *,  but  in  none  more  than  this,  that  they  do 
not  require  absolute  perfection,  nor  forbid  all 
sin.  In  other  and  plainer  language,  they  tolerate 
what  is  wrong,  and  what  the  moral  law  does  not 
tolerate.  They  tolerate  imperfection  at  hearty 
for  they  do  not  profess  to  reach  the  heart.  That 
is  done  by  another  law,  and  by  no  mere  civil,  poli- 


LEGISLATIVE    SCIENCE.  73 

tical  code.  They  tolerate  imperfection  in  the  hfe  5 
for  no  system  of  human  legislation,  even  though 
God  were  its  author,  would  ever  attempt  to  secure 
even  a  perfectly  blameless  exterior.  Hence  there 
were  usages  in  the  Hebrew  nation  which  were  in- 
consistent with  the  moral  law,  and  with  the  gene- 
ral scope  and  spirit  of  the  divine  oracles,  which 
the  civil  code  of  the  Old  Testament  did  not  pro- 
hibit to  the  Hebrew  people. 

Great  complaint  has  been  made  against  the  Old 
Testament  for  these  connivances  5  but  great  injus- 
tice has  been  done  to  it  in  this  particular.  We 
have  said,  that  every  just  law  is  dictated  in  wis- 
dom. But  while  it  is  indispensable  to  the  due 
administration  of  justice,  that  no  law  should  be 
unjust,  it  is  not  indispensable  that  every  just  law 
which  may  be  thought  of  should  be  enacted.  A 
civil  code  may  legislate  too  much,  as  well  as  too 
little.  The  object  of  a  law  should  always  be  at- 
tainable, and  always  of  sufficient  importance  to 
demand  its  enactment.  It  may  be  to  a  high  de- 
gree fit  and  proper  that  men,  as  citizens,  should 
do  right  in  every  thing  5  while  it  may  not  be  fit 
and  proper,  that  any  system  of  mere  human  legis- 
lation should  require  absolute  perfection  in  human 
conduct.  This,  as  has  been  before  remarked,  is 
the  province  of  a  moral,  and  not  a  civil  code.  This 
is  the  province  of  the  divine  lawgiver,  acting  as 
the  moral  governor  of  men,  and  not  of  human 
legislation.  He  must  do  this,  or  his  law  would  not 
be  holy,  just  and  good^  nor  commend  itself  to  the 

7 


74  LEGISLATIVE    SCIENCE. 

conscience.  He  cannot  do  less,  however  extensive 
his  empire,  and  however  remote  the  period  of 
time,  or  ages  of  eternity  to  which  his  government 
is  extended.  The  great  pecuharity  of  his  moral 
government  is,  that  it  is  a  perfect  government, 
conniving  at  no  kind  or  degree  of  wickedness,  and 
adjusting  penalty  to  crime  with  that  perfect  preci- 
sion and  exactness  of  moral  balance,  that  is  in  all 
cases  proportioned  to  the  measure  of  its  ill  desert. 
But  this  is  not  the  work  of  human  legislation,  un- 
less men  may  legislate  for  God,  and  with  the  design 
of  securing  a  sinless  community.  This  were  im- 
practicable and  visionary.  Even  were  there  such 
a  thing  as  perfect  rectitude  among  men,  it  would 
be  impossible  for  any  civil  code  to  draw  the  line 
between  guilt  and  innocence  by  any  distinct  or 
dejfinite  Hmitations.  Nor  could  justice  ever  be- 
come so  active,  vigilant  and  cautious,  as  to  prevent, 
or  punish  every  instance  of  wickedness.  The 
difficulty  of  a  civil  law  in  attempting  to  reach 
everything  wrong  is  but  half.  The  still  greater 
difficulty  also  would  be,  in  enforcing  such  laws  when 
made.  Their  minuteness  would  render  them  dif- 
ficult to  be  known ;  transgressions  would  be  con- 
stant, and  the  whole  business  of  society,  would  be 
the  discovering,  trying,  and  punishing  of  offences. 
Intention  too  would  be  the  corpus  delicti^  and  this 
would  have  to  be  tried  by  fallible  judges,  liable  to 
partiality  and  corruption,  and  by  means  of  wit- 
nesses perhaps  still  more  hable.  I  can  imagine  no 
state  of  anarchy  or  contention  equal  to  that  which 


LEGISLATIVE    SCIENCE.  75 

would  be  produced  by  civil  laws  attempting  to  en- 
force all  that  is  right,  and  to  prohibit  all  that  is 
wrong.  The  basis  of  all  legislation  by  general 
rules  admits  of  partial  evil  for  general  good  5  and 
this  is  the  only  practicable  legislation.  Moses,  for 
example,  allowed  polygamy,  because,  in  that  age 
of  the  world  it  was  not  once  thought  of  as  a  sin  5 
and  the  time  had  not  come  for  him  to  sunder  the 
ten  thousand  bonds  which  existed  all  over  the  na- 
tion between  husbands  and  wives,  parents  and 
children,  and  suddenly  break  up  the  foundations 
of  long  established  society  by  enforcing  the  origi- 
nal law  of  marriage.  And  for  the  same  reason  he 
allowed  of  divorce  for  other  causes  than  conjugal 
infidelity,  and  also  because  in  a  state  of  society 
where  polygamy  is  allowed,  one  of  the  means  of 
gradually  preventing  polygamy  was  not  to  render 
divorces  too  difficult. 

It  is  essential  to  a  moral  law,  as  we  have 
before  intimated,  that  it  tolerate  nothing  that  is 
wrong,  however  strong  the  reasons  for  the  con- 
nivance j  while  it  is  essential  to  the  wisdom  of 
every  code  of  civil  legislation,  that  it  connive  at 
many  things,  lest  by  aiming  at  too  much  it  defeat 
its  own  designs.  -  Take  a  plain  and  familiar  ex- 
ample. What  course  would  a  wise  man  pursue, 
if  he  were  to  form  a  Civil  Code  for  the  Sandwich 
Islands,  or  for  the  colonies  on  the  coast  of  Africa  ? 
God  has  already  proclaimed  to  them  his  moral 
law^  requiring  perfect  holiness.  This  law  the  faith- 
ful missionary  of  the  cross  illustrates  and  enforces 


76  LEGISLATIVE    SCIENCE. 

in  all  the  perfection  of  its  precepts,  and  all  the 
severity  of  its  sanctions.  But  as  a  virtuous  and 
wise  jurist,  he  is  called  upon  to  modify  and  change 
their  civil  code^  by  which  they  shall  regulate  their 
mutual  intercourse,  define  rights  and  tresspass, 
and  crimes;  try  criminals,  and  determine  civil 
actions.  It  would  be  puerile  to  suppose  that  he 
would  prescribe  to  them  the  ten  commandments^ 
or  which  would  amount  to  the  same  thing,  that  he 
wpuld  expressly  prohibit  by  penal  sanctions 
everything  which  is  not  accordant  to  the  perfect 
demands  of  the  moral  law.  He  would  obviously 
inquire,  to  what  extent  it  is  practicable,  expedient, 
and  conducive  to  the  ends  of  good  government  to 
require  all  that  is  right,  and  forbid  all  that  is 
wrong.  While  the  code  which  he  would  estabhsh 
would  enjoin  nothing  that  is  sinful,  under  a  sound 
discretion  he  would  ask,  to  what  extent  it  might 
tolerate  and  suffer  some  evils,  lest  it  should  defeat 
its  own  design.  Nay,  would  he  not  even  establish 
laws  to  regulate  those  very  evils ;  to  prevent  the 
increase  and  abuse  of  them,  that  ultimately  and  in 
a  more  improved  and  advanced  state  of  society, 
they  might  be  wholly  eradicated  ?  Now  this  is 
what  infinite  wisdom  heis  done  in  the  civil  code  of 
the  Hebrews.  The  moral  law  he  had  given  them. 
But  that  recently  enslaved  people  were  about  to 
assume  a  new  character.  They  were  about  to  be 
organized  into  a  body  politic  and  to  be  constituted 
the  Hebrew  state.  And  in  this  crisis  of  their 
history,  God   himself  was  their  counsellor.     He 


LEGISLATIVE    SCIENCE.  77 

condescended  to  give  them  statutes  and  judg- 
meMts^  and  to  become  the  author  and  framer  of 
their  civil  and  judicial  code.  And  would  you 
deny  to  him  the  discretion  of  a  wise  jurist  ?  Is 
it  to  be  supposed  that  he  would  conduct  so 
weighty  a  concern  with  any  lack  of  wisdom,  or 
any  want  of  regard  for  the  condition  and  charac- 
ter of  the  people  for  whom  he  was  about  to  legis- 
late ?  John  Locke  could  write  with  distinguished 
ability  on  the  powers  of  the  human  mind  j  but 
when  he  comes  to  discuss  the  great  practical  ques- 
tions of  civil  government,  and  to  prepare  a  consti- 
tution for  a  free  state,  he  is  like  Samson  shorn  of 
his  strength.  The  divine  wisdom  was  never  more 
needed  by  the  Hebrew  nation  than  at  the  com- 
mencement of  their  political  existence,  just  after 
they  had  escaped  the  servitude  of  Egypt.  Cavil- 
lers at  the  political  law  of  the  Hebrews,  seem  to 
have  lost  sight  of  the  very  obvious  distinction  be- 
tween their  moral  and  civil  code  j  while  a  very 
slight  attention  to  the  Scriptures,  and  to  the  na- 
ture of  the  case  evinces  that  they  were  delivered 
at  different  times,  to  different  persons,  and  for 
widely  different  purposes.  The  object  of  their 
civil  laws  is  to  define  and  illustrate  the  doctrine 
of  personal  rights  5  to  govern  their  intercourse  in 
the  common  transactions  of  human  Hfej  to  extend 
their  influence  into  the  domestic  circle,  and  regulate 
the  reciprocal  duties  of  husband  and  wife,  parent 
and  child,  master  and  servant.  And  most  abun- 
dantly do  they  indicate  their  divine  Author. 


78  LEGISLATIVE    SCIENCE. 

We  cannot  do  justice  to  this  part  of  our  subject 
without  entering  briefly  into  some  specifications. 
The  caution  with  which  the  Mosaic  law  prevented 
the  accumulation  of  debt, — the  fidelity  with  which 
they  required  the  restoration  of  lost  property, — 
the  restoring  of  property  that  was  injured,  or 
stolen,  in  the  former  case  to  the  full  amount  of  its 
original  value,  and  in  the  latter  to  double  that 
amount, — and  the  distinctness  and  simplicity  of 
the  law  of  bailment,  are  replete  with  instruction 
to  every  succeeding  generation  of  men.  Any  man 
who  carefully  reads  that  beautiful  treatise  of  Sir 
William  Jones  on  this  last  subject,  will  see  that 
all  the  leading  principles  of  the  law  of  bail- 
ment there  illustrated,  are  found  in  the  law  of 
Moses.*  In  the  Mosaic  code  you  find  the  follow- 
ing law  in  relation  to  injuries  arising  from  care- 
lessness and  inattention.  "  If  a  man  shall  open 
a  pit,  or  if  a  man  shall  dig  a  pit,  and  not  cover 
it,  and  an  ox,  or  an  ass  fall  therein,  the  owner  of 
the  pit  shall  make  it  good,  and  give  money  unto 
the  owner  of  them  5  and  the  dead  beast  shall  be 
his.  And  if  one  man's  ox  hurt  another's  that  he 
die  5  then  they  shall  sell  the  live  ox,  and  divide  the 
money  of  it  5  and  the  dead  ox  also  they  shall  di- 
vide." This  law  contains  the  germ  of  all  the  ex- 
isting refinements  of  the  law  of  injuries  from  want 
of  care,  and  those  arising  without  fault.  There  is 
a  nice  equity  in  this  law,  where,  upon  payment  for 


*  Exod.  22.  14,  15. 


LEGISLATIVE    SCIENCE.  79 

the  damages,  "  the  beast  shall  be  his"  who  was  the 
occasion  of  the  injury.  The  division  of  the  loss, 
too,  where  neither  party  is  in  fault,  is  a  very  re- 
fined notion  of  equity.  It  is  the  rule  at  the  pre- 
sent day,  in  the  case  of  the  collision  of  ships ;  and 
is  both  more  equitable  and  more  tender  than  leav- 
ing the  loss  upon  that  party  who,  by  accident,  first 
sustains  it.  Dividing  the  loss  also  greatly  dimin- 
ished the  temptation  to  quarrel  about  the  probable 
fault,  and  to  prevent  a  litigation  5  and  this  is  a  car- 
dinal object  of  all  wise  governments.*  The  doc- 
trine of  restitution  in  the  cases  of  theft,  of  the 
difference  in  the  degree  of  restitution  between  the 
selling  and  killing  the  stolen  ox,  or  sheep,  and 
its  being  found  in  the  thief's  hand,  was  both  most 
just  and  most  politic.  As  the  article  could  be  re- 
stored, there  was  no  fear  of  the  thief's  gaining  by 
a  difference  of  value  between  the  sold  or  killed  ox, 
and  those  to  be  restored.f  The  law  of  mandato- 
ries^ or  the  law  concerning  property  given  in 
charge  for  safe  keeping,  is  not  to  be  surpassed  for 
wisdom  and  equity  5  and  all  the  refinements  of  the 
law  to  this  day,  do  not  carry  the  principle  any 
further.J  No  rule  of  damages  in  cases  of  seduc- 
tion is  so  wise  as  that  in  the  law  of  Moses.  It  is 
the  usual  one  lawyers  now  present  to  juries,  where 
the  case  is  one   of  real  deception.||     These,  and 


*  Exodus  21.  33—35.  fib.  22.  1—4.  \  lb.  7—15. 

8  lb.  16.  17. 


80  LEGISLATIVE    SCIENCE. 

other  similar  laws  are  expressive  of  great  wisdom, 
and  have  been  uniformly  honoured  by  all  wise  and 
benevolent  legislators. 

It  has  no  doubt  occurred  to  the  intelligent 
reader  of  the  Mosaic  law,  that  there  is  a  series  of 
tender  and  sentimental  injunctions^  the  design  of 
which  was  to  form  the  moral  sensibilities  of  the 
Hebrews  by  a  standard  at  once  the  most  refined 
and  honourable.  They  consist  chiefly  of  precepts 
directory,  to  which  no  penalty  is  annexed,  except 
that  which  might  be  inflicted  by  the  all-governing 
hand  of  God  in  the  ordinary  dispensations  of  his 
providence.  But  they  were  designed  to  exert  a 
powerful  influence  5  to  be  great  moral  axioms ;  to 
guard  men  against  unnatural  obduracy,  and  hard- 
ness of  feeling ;  and  be  a  sort  of  standing  appeal 
to  the  tenderness  and  honour  of  men  in  all  their 
mutual  intercourse.  I  allude  to  such  examples  as 
the  following.  "  Thou  shalt  not  vex  a  stranger, 
nor  oppress  him  5  for  ye  were  strangers  in  the 
land  of  Egypt.  Ye  shall  not  afiiict  any  widow, 
nor  fatherless  child.  If  thou  afllict  them  in  any 
wise,  and  they  cry  at  all  unto  me,  I  will  surely 
hear  their  cry  5  and  my  wrath  shall  wax  hot,  and  I 
will  kill  you  with  the  sword  5  and  your  wives  shall 
be  widows,  and  your  children  fatherless."  God 
bound  them  to  act  in  this  matter  from  an  affec- 
tionate regard  to  his  authority  5  and  gave  them 
distinctly  to  understand,  that  if  they  refused  to  do 
so,  he  himself  would  become  the  guardian  of  the 
poor,  the  father  of  the  fatherless,  the  protector  of 


LEGISLATIVE    SCIENCE.  81 

the  helpless  orphan,  the  widow's  God,  and  the 
avenger  of  her  wrongs.  A  law  like  this  is  an 
everlasting  testimony  against  the  man  who  ne- 
glects the  sufferings  of  his  brethren  j  and  though  he 
may  have  all  the  religious  ardour  and  zeal  of  a 
martyr,  it  denounces  him  as  a  base  dissembler. 
Of  the  same  general  character  is  the  injunction, 
to  leave  the  "  forgotten  sheaf"  in  the  field  in  the 
time  of  harvest ;  not  "  go  over  the  boughs  of  the 
olive  tree  a  second  time ;"  nor  "  twice  glean  the 
grapes  of  their  vineyard  j"  but  that  what  remained 
after  the  first  gathering,  should  be  left  for  "  the 
stranger,  the  fatherless,  and  the  widow."  The 
same  remarks  are  also  pertinent  to  the  rule  as  to 
"  pledges,"  forbidding  them  to  "  take  the  upper  or 
nether  millstone  to  pledge,"  because  this  was  the 
life,  and  only  remaining  means  of  sustenance  to 
the  poor.  There  is  a  remarkable  delicacy  too,  a 
singular  refinement  of  feeHng  in  the  law  relative 
to  pledges.  "When  thou  dost  lend  thy  brother 
any  thing,  thou  shalt  not  go  into  his  house  to  fetch 
his  pledge."  You  may  not  enter  there  to  discover 
the  nakedness  of  the  land.  Your  eye  shall  not 
penetrate  the  miseries  of  his  humble  dwelling. 
Your  presence  shall  not  bring  the  blush  of  shame 
upon  the  face  of  his  mortified  family.  You  shall 
not  have  the  opportunity  of  pubHshing  to  the 
world  their  abjectness  and  low  estate.  "Thou 
shalt  stand  abroad,  and  the  man  to  whom  thou 
dost  lend,  shall  bring  out  the  pledge  abroad  unto 
thee."     Of  the  same  general  character  is  the  law 


82  LEGISLATIVE    SCIENCE. 

that  required  a  man,  if  he  "  met  his  enemy  s  ox, 
or  ass  going  astray,  to  bring  it  back  to  him  again  5" 
the  law  that  the  '•'  wages  of  every  hired  labourer 
should  be  paid  punctually  before  the  going  down 
of  the  sun  5"  the  injunction  against  slander  and 
tale  bearing  j  the  law  against  usury  ^  and  the  law 
which  even  guards  against  hardening  the  feelings 
by  destroying  the  bird  with  her  eggs.  Now,  all 
this  was  above  any  mere  philosopher,  sage,  or 
hero.  These  precepts  are  very  touching  5  they 
are  the  finest  political  morahty ;  and  not  only  very 
high  morahty,  but  very  deep  sentiment.  A  leader 
of  a  horde  of  fugitive  slaves,  who  had  employed 
his  time  in  tending  sheep  upon  the  mountains  of 
Arabia  Petrea,  and  associating  with  oppressed 
makers  of  bricks,  could  hardly,  of  his  own  undi- 
rected wisdom,  have  been  so  sentimental  in  his 
equity.  A  collection  of  the  rules  of  this  general 
character  would  be  one  of  the  most  striking  collec- 
tions of  kind,  considerate,  and  merciful  legislation 
ever  known  5  and  can  scarcely  be  believed  of  a 
lawgiver  so  sternly  denouncing  blood  for  every 
crime  which  struck  at  the  social  organization. 
The  combination  of  the  two  things  proves  him, 
not  to  have  been  a  cruel,  and  to  have  been  a  wise 
legislator. 

The  trial  of  jealousy  also  is  a  singular  institu- 
tion among  the  Hebrews,  if  actually  practised. 
But  there  is  in  it  such  an  appeal  to  the  secret  ter- 
ror of  a  guilty  conscience,  as  to  have  prevented 
any  but  the  innocent  from  submitting  to  its  appa- 


LEGISLATIVE    SCIENCE.  83 

rently  harmless  portions.  How  different  was  this 
trial  to  an  innocent  person  from  the  trials  of 
Ordeal  in  the  dark  ages.  What  innocent  wife 
could  walk  over  burning  plough  shares  5  steep  her 
hands  or  feet  in  burning  oil;  or  float,  when  fet- 
tered, in  the  horse-pond  ?  The  poor  Jewess  had 
an  ordeal  which  could  not  hurt  the  innocent; 
while  the  middle  ages  had  ordeals  which  left  the 
innocent  no  chance  of  escape. 

So  likewise  the  reference  of  matters  of  so  much 
nicety  as  not  to  be  capable  of  solution  by  judges, 
to  the  priesthood  as  a  hody^  and  punishing  with 
death  a  presumptuous  contempt  of  the  sentence, 
was  well  calculated  to  protect  the  ordinary  magis- 
trate from  the  animosity  of  a  losing  party,  where 
the  question  of  right  was  very  difficult,  and  where 
the  loosing  party  would  never  be  satisfied  with  a 
mere  reason.  In  modern  constitutions  it  is  now 
necessary  to  rest  the  ultimate  decision  of  difficult 
matters  to  large  bodies,  who  cannot,  from  their 
very  multitude,  be  objects  of  personal  animosity. 

After  their  civil,  or  political  laws,  is  their  code 
of  Penal  Statutes.  Law  punishes  as  well  as  pro- 
tects j  and  punishes  only  to  strengthen  its  protec- 
tion. In  a  well  governed  state,  crime  is  prevented 
more  frequently  tban  punished.  To  make  punish- 
ment unnecessary  is  the  great  employment  of  legis- 
lative wisdom.  There  are,  I  know,  some  peculia- 
rities in  the  penal  code  of  the  Hebrews  which 
have  been  the  subject  of  loud  complaint.  Not  a 
few  of  these  peculiarities  are  to  be  accounted  for 


84  LEGISLATIVE    SCIENCE. 

by  the  fact  that  they  were  designed  to  keep  that 
people  distinct  from  the  rest  of  mankind,  and  thus 
prevent  their  being  involved  in  the  idolatry  of  the 
pagan  world.  Infidels  have  made  themselves  merry 
also  at  the  minuteness  of  this  code.  And  it  may 
be,  that  there  are  some  honest,  but  fastidious 
readers  of  the  Old  Testament  whose  delicacy  has 
been  wounded  at  the  rehearsal  of  some  of  those 
very  recitals,  which  have  contributed  to  the  forma- 
tion of  that  high  standard  of  susceptibility  which 
shrinks  from  the  conception  of  laws  so  necessary 
to  this  degraded  people.  When  we  consider  that 
the  Mosaic  code  was  prescribed  for  a  people  igno- 
rant of  all  law  5  a  people  who  had  just  emerged 
from  the  most  abject  slavery  5  a  people  scarcely 
beyond  the  limits  of  the  most  loathsome  and  defil- 
ing paganism  5  we  shall  cease  to  wonder  at  the 
minuteness  of  its  details,  and  admire  the  divine 
wisdom  and  condescension  in  stooping  thus  to 
their  low  condition. 

There  are  several  striking  points  of  difference 
between  the  Mosaic  penal  code  and  that  of  most 
modern  states.  One  of  these  is  the  requiring  of 
two  witnesses  for  every  mortal  crime,  and  that 
the  witnesses  should  aid  in  the  execution  of  the 
guilty.  This  is  a  very  remarkable  provision  among 
such  a  people  as  the  Hebrews;  wonderfully  cal- 
culated to  prevent  false  testimony,  and  deserves 
imitation  among  the  most  enlightened  judges  and 
legislators.  Another  is,  that  they  had  no  law  of 
imprisonment,  either  for  debt,  or  for  crime.    There 


LEGISLATIVE    SCIENCE.  85 

are  but  two  recorded  exceptions  to  this  remark 
within  my  knowledge.  The  one  is  the  keeping 
of  a  criminal  in  custody  for  a  single  night,  until 
the  will  of  the  Deity  could  be  consulted  concern- 
ing him,  and  the  other  is  the  appointment  of  the 
cities  of  refuge  for  the  man-slayer.  Though  of 
ancient  usage  and  origin,  imprisonment  did  not 
originate  with  the  law  of  Moses.  Instead  of  im- 
prisoning for  crime,  the  Mosaic  code  requires  the 
immediate  and  prompt  execution  of  the  law.  It 
was  their  doctrine  that  laws  were  made  to  be  exe- 
cuted ;  and  the  divine  lawgiver  saw  fit  to  decide 
that  there  should  be  no  needless  delay  in  the  exe- 
cution. Another  striking  difference  related  to  the 
character  of  the  crimes  that  were  punishable  with 
death.  They  were  all  either  of  high  moral  mahg- 
nity,  or  crimes  that  tended  to  the  subversion  of 
their  whole  civil  polity,  and  endangered  the  social 
existence  of  the  nation.  The  propriety  of  the 
law  against  them  rests  upon  the  same  grounds  as 
the  punishment  of  treason  and  murder,  and  is  ful- 
ly justified.  In  ordinary  cases,  constituted  as  that 
nation  was,  under  a  Theocracy^  they  strike  at  the 
root  of  social  existence  *,  and  the  severity  of  the 
punishment  against  them  was  in  self-defence  for  the 
very  existence  of  society.  Besides,  with  a  people 
of  extreme  simplicity  as  to  property,  almost  the 
only  punishment  must  be  personal  5  and  as  they 
were  emerging  from  a  slavery  where  the  taking  of 
life  was  probably  very  common,  capricious,  and 
despotic,  without   severe  punishments   they  were 

8 


86  LEGISLATIVE    SCIENCE. 

without  any.  One  thing  also,  is  quite  remarkable 
in  a  code  where  the  ignorance  of  the  people  and 
the  simplicity  of  property  and  social  state  left  the 
lawgiver  few  punishments  of  which  to  choose  and 
threw  him  upon  stripes  or  death.  I  mean  the 
tenderness  of  bloody  and  the  almost  superstitious 
reverence  for  human  life.  The  ox  that  killed 
a  man,  or  woman,  was  stoned,  nor  should  his 
flesh  be  eaten  5  and  if  he  were  an  unruly  ox,  and 
this  be  known  to  his  owner,  not  only  was  the  ox 
stoned,  but  his  owner  was  put  to  death.  This  is 
the  origin  of  all  those  forfeitures  in  law  which 
arise  from  the  misfortune  rather  than  the  crime  of 
the  owner,  and  are  called  deodand.*  It  is  not 
long  since  this  principle  was  carried  into  exten- 
sive operation  in  the  laws  of  England.  Whatever 
personal  chattel  was  the  immediate  occasion  of 
the  death  of  any  reasonable  creature,  was  forfeited 
to  the  king  and  applied  to  benevolent  purposes. 
Bracton  states  the  law  to  have  been,  that  "  all 
things  which,  while  in  motion,  caused  death,  are 
to  be  offered  to  God."  But  the  English  law  was 
even  more  extensive  than  this.  If  a  man  were 
killed  by  a  fall  from  a  cart,  or  a  horse,  the  cart  or 
horse  was  forfeited.  A  well  in  which  a  person 
was  drowned,  was  ordered  to  be  filled  up  under 
the  inspection  of  the  coroner.  And  among  the 
Athenians,   "whatever   was  the   cause   of   man's 


*  Blackstone's  Commentaries,  vol  I.  chapter  8th. 


LEGISLATIVE    SCIENCE.  87 

death  by  falling  upon  him,  was  exterminated,  or 
cast  out  of  the  dominions  of  the  repubhc."  There 
seems  to  us  to  be  superstition  in  such  a  law,  but  it 
is  a  humane  superstition.  The  mind  was  taught 
by  it  to  contemplate  with  horror  the  privation  of 
human  life ;  and  it  might  not  be  familiar  even  with 
an  insensible  object  which  had  been  the  occasion 
of  death,  lest  that  sentiment  should  be  diminished. 
The  most  corrupt  and  melancholy  state  of  human 
society  is  that  in  which  the  mind  becomes  familiar- 
ized to  blood ;  and  it  is  a  question  of  grave  import, 
whether  any  thing  is  gained  by  abrogating  even 
the  sacred,  and,  if  you  please,  superstitious,  regard 
to  human  life  which  was  inspired  by  this  great 
principle  of  the  Mosaic  code. 

When  you  take  up  the  special  examples  of  penal 
law  under  this  code,  you  cannot  but  admire  their 
wisdom.  You  have  in  the  first  place  idolatry^ 
and  the  penalty  was  death.  It  was  treason  against 
the  state,  to  acknowledge  any  other  as  king,  than 
God.  This  crime  also  was  always  connected  with 
the  inhuman  and  bloody  practice  of  offering  human 
sacrifices.  It  was  of  most  aggravated  enormity, 
and  struck  at  the  very  existence  of  the  nation. 
The  next  crime  is  blasphemy^  and  was  punished 
with  death  for  the  same  sufficient  reason.  The 
next  is  deliberate  and  wilful  murder.  "  He  that 
smiteth  a  man  so  that  he  die,  shall  surely  be  put  to 
death."  This  was  a  re-pubUcation  of  the  law  given 
to  Noah,  and  in  my  humble  judgment  is  obliga- 
tory upon  the  world  in  all  subsequent  ages.     The 


88 


LEGISLATIVE    SCIENCE. 


nice  distinctions  laid  down  in  the  Mosaic  code 
between  murder  and  manslaughter,  are  to  the  pre- 
sent day  the  just  and  recognized  principles  of  the 
law  of  homicide,  and  are  carried  out  into  every 
ramification  without  any  new  principle.  Another 
mortal  crime  is  smiting  a  parent.  This  is  a  very 
unnatural,  uncommon,  and  improbable  crime.  Like 
several  others,  it  struck  at  the  basis  of  society, 
framed  as  it  was  on  a  patriarchal  model  and  or- 
ganization, which  could  not  continue  long  on  the 
land  given  to  it  unless  the  simple  principles  of  its 
organization  were  severely  defended.  So  of  curs- 
ng  a  parent.,  which  was  also  punished  with  the 
same  severity.  And  so  of  inveterate  disobedience 
to  parents  for  the  same  reason.  So  also  of  incest 
— sodomy — bestiality — -forcible  violation — and 
adultery^  and  all  for  the  same  reason.  So  also  of 
false  pretensions  to  prophecy  for  the  same  rea- 
sons with  idolatry  and  blasphemy.  So  also  of 
witchcraft.  Whether  witchcraft  be  imaginary,  or 
not,  no  cruelty  is  known  equal  to  that  committed 
by  pretenders  to  this  mystery.  Witness  the  medi- 
cine men  of  our  own  western  Indians.  In  an 
ignorant  body  of  slaves,  without  intelligence  and 
subject  to  superstitions,  pretensions  to  witchcraft 
were  likely  to  be  most  disastrous  to  the  happiness 
of  the  people,  and  very  dangerous  to  the  govern- 
ment :  and  I  w^ould  at  this  day,  legislating  for  our 
Indians,  or  for  negroes  subject  to  Obi  superstition, 
punish  conjuring  with  death,  quite  as  readily  as 
for  any  crime  short  of  actual  murder,  or  treason. 


LEGISLATIVE    SCIENCE.  89 

The  only  other  crimes  punishable  with  death  by 
the  Mosaic  code,  were  manstealing,  Sabbath  break- 
ing, and  contumacious  resistance  against  the  su- 
preme authority  of  the  State.  The  time  was,  and 
that  less  than  two  hundred  years  ago,  when  by  the 
laws  of  England,  one  hundred  and  forty-eight 
crimes  were  punishable  with  death.  By  the  Mo- 
saic code  there  are  seventeen.  Let  the  profane 
cease  from  their  rebukes  of  the  penal  statutes  of 
Moses ! 

There  is  one  fact  in  relation  to  the  Mosaic 
code  which  is  a  severe  rebuke  to  modern  govern- 
ments. No  injury  simply  affecting  property^ 
no  invasion  of  personal  rights  whatever,  could 
draw  down  upon  an  Israelite  an  ignominious 
death.  Mammon  was  not  the  god  of  the  Mo- 
saic law.  That  code  respected  moral  depravity 
more  than  gold.  Moral  turpitude  and  the  most 
atrocious  expressions  of  moral  turpitude,  these 
were  the  objects  of  its  unsleeping  severity. 

"  Mammon  leads  us  on, 
Mammon,  the  least  erected  spirit  that  fell 
From  heaven ;  for  e'en  in  heaven  his  looks  and  thoughts 
Were  always  downward  bent,  admiring  more 
The  riches  of  heaven's  pavement,  trodden  gold, 
Than  ought  divine  or  holy." — 

Nor  is  it  a  slight  commendation  of  that  code, 
that  its  laws  were  equal.  Ye  "shall  have  one 
manner  of  law  as  well  for  the  stranger,  as  for  one 
of  your  own  country."     Every  man  in  the  com- 

8* 


90  LEGISLATIVE    SCIENCE. 

munity  had  the  same  protection  from  the  penal 
laws. 

Not  a  little  has  been  said  against  the  law  of 
retaliation,  or  the  lex  talionis^  as  it  is  enjoined  in 
this  code.  But  has  it  not  been  hastily  said  ?  No 
man  doubts  that,  as  the  law  of  individual^  and 
private  revenge^  it  is  wrong.  It  is  in  this  view, 
and  only  in  this  view,  that  it  is  condemned  by  the 
Saviour,  and  superseded  by  the  injunction,  "  Resist 
not  evil."  No  man  may  take  the  law  into  his  own 
hands,  and  become  at  pleasure  the  avenger  of  his 
own  wrongs.  But  where  is  its  severity,  or  ini- 
quitableness,  as  the  adjudicated  decision  of  a  legal 
tribunal  ?  The  lex  talionis  in  relation  to  delibe- 
rate and  premeditated  crimes  is  just,  and  it  is  not 
certainly  impolitic.  "  Thou  shall  give  life  for  life." 
Nor  do  I  see  any  injustice,  or  inexpediency  in 
punishing  deliberate  maiming  by  a  similar  judicial 
maiming.  No  man  can  say,  it  is  not  the  measure 
of  punishment  most  consonant  to  natural  equity. 
As  applied  to  perjury,  a  crime  always  of  great  and 
studied  premeditation,  there  is  a  strong  propriety 
in  its  being  rigidly  executed,  and  in  doing  to  the 
perjurer  "  as  he  had  thought  to  have  done  unto 
his  brother." 

Nor  let  the  conscientious  reader  of  the  Mosaic 
law  be  induced  to  imagine  that  there  is  any  thing 
either  in  the  civil  or  penal  code  of  the  Hebrews 
that  requires  and  justifies  sin.  It  is  not  so. 
Great  injustice  has  been  done  in  this  particular  to 
the  Old  Testament,  as  I  have  remarked  before. 


LEGISLATIVE    SCIENCE.  91 

There  is  a  difference  between  a  moral  and  a 
judicial  code,  even  though  proceeding  from  the 
same  source ;  and  though  what  the  former  may 
not  allow,  the  latter  may  not  require^  yet  what  the 
former  may  forbid,  the  latter  may  leave  unnoticed, 
and  even  regulate  and  control.  It  is  not  necessary 
that  a  code  of  civil  laws  should  adjudicate  upon 
every  moral  evil.  It  is  not  best  that  it  should. 
Notwithstanding  all  that  has  been  said  and  writ- 
ten, there  is  no  evidence  to  my  mind  that  there  is 
any  thing  in  the  laws  of  Moses  which  countervails 
the  unchanging  principles  of  moral  rectitude. 
Sometimes  you  find  the  Saviour,  when  comment- 
ing on  that  code,  giving  the  preference  to  a  moral 
precept  over  a  positive  institution,  but  this  is  no 
evidence  that  the  positive  institution  was  sinful. 
Moses  "  suffered  some  things  for  the  hardness  of 
the  hearts  of  the  people,"  which,  in  a  subsequent 
age  and  a  different  state  of  society,  he  would 
not  have  suffered  5  but  this  is  no  evidence  that 
what  he  judicially  suffered  he  morally  approved. 
Not  an  instance  can  be  found  in  which  the  divine 
command  required  that,  which  can  upon  any  fair 
construction,  be  regarded  as  a  violation  of  that 
rule  of  right,  which  is  founded  in  the  nature  and 
relation  of  things,  and  is  written  in  every  human 
heart.  The  Jews  in  the  time  of  Christ  had  erro- 
neous views  of  the  laws  of  Moses,  and  perverted 
them,  and  needed  the  exposition  which  was  given 
them  by  the  Saviour.  And  not  a  few  at  the  pre- 
sent day  have  erroneous  views  of  the  instructions 


92  LEGISLATIVE    SCIENCE. 

of  Christ,  and  pervert  them,  and  need  to  be  taught 
that  they  are  perfectly  consistent  with  the  instruc- 
tions of  Moses.  The  gospel  is  in  advance  of  the 
law,  but  not  in  opposition  to  the  law.  Moses 
wrote  of  Christ,  and  if  we  believe  the  words  of 
Christ,  we  shall  believe  the  writings  of  Moses. 

The  Jews  were  a  favoured  people.  Their  penal 
laws  are  so  much  distinguished  for  discretion,  hu- 
manity, equity,  and  mildness,  that  they  cannot  but 
challenge  the  admiration  of  every  intelligent  jurist. 
Let  them  be  compared  with  Hales'  Pleas  of  the 
Crown,  and  it  is  no  difficult  matter  to  see  on  which 
side  the  advantage  lies.  Nothing  escapes  their 
notice.  They  guard  the  morals  as  well  as  the  per- 
sons of  the  community.  It  were  well  if  every 
crowded  city  had  as  good  a  system  of  sanitary  re- 
gulations as  the  camp  of  Israel.  The  uniform 
tendency  of  their  whole  system  of  jurisprudence 
was  to  promote  a  good  understanding  between 
man  and  man  5  and  the  great  object  of  their  po- 
lice, the  prevention,  rather  than  the  punishment  of 
crime.  Moses  is  not  less  truly  the  great  lawgiver, 
than  the  first  historian.  The  surrounding  and 
contemporaneous  nations  were  far  in  the  rear  of 
this  favoured  people  in  every  department  of  legis- 
lative knowledge.  Chaldea,  Egypt,  Phoenicia, 
Media,  Persia,  then  under  the  sovereignty  of 
Cherdorlaomer,  had  every  thing  to  learn  on  this 
subject  from  the  Hebrews.  "•  What  nation,"  says 
the  God  of  Israel  to  his  chosen  people,  "  what  na- 
tion is  there  so  great,  that  hath  statutes  and  judg- 


LEGISLATIVE    SCIENCE.  93 

ments  so  righteous,  as  all  this  law  which  I  set  be- 
fore you  this  day  ?" 

Men  do  not  always  follow  ancient  customs  be- 
cause they  are  wise.  And  yet  is  there  no  doubt 
that  many  succeeding  ages,  as  well  as  those  that 
were  contemporaneous,  were  deeply  indebted  to 
the  Mosaic  institutions.  Dr.  Graves,  in  his  admi- 
rable lectures  on  the  Pentateuch,  says,  that  "  the 
Mosaic  code  must  have  been  generally  known  in 
those  eastern  countries  from  which  the  most  an- 
cient and  celebrated  legislators  and  sages  derived 
the  model  of  their  laws."  Moses  indeed  labours 
to  impress  this  thought  upon  his  countrymen  as  a 
powerful  motive  for  a  careful  observance  of  their 
institutions.  "Keep  therefore  and  do  them,  for 
this  is  your  wisdem  and  your  understanding  in  the 
sight  of  the  nations  which  shall  hear  of  all  these 
statutes,  and  say,  surely  this  great  nation  is  a  wise 
and  understanding  people."  The  lawgivers  of  na- 
tions bordering  on  the  Jews  borrowed  many  of 
their  institutions  from  the  laws  of  Moses.  This 
was  obviously  true  of  the  Egyptians  and  the  Phoe- 
nicians. During  the  reign  of  Artaxerxes  Longi- 
manus,  while  the  Jews  were  scattered  through- 
out the  kingdom  of  Persia,  their  laws  were  the 
subjects  of  reniark  and  notoriety  j  for  Haman 
speaks  of  them  to  the  king  as  "  diverse  from  the 
laws  of  all  people."  That  the  extent  to  which  the 
laws  of  Greece  were  indebted  to  the  institutions 
of  Moses  was  not  inconsiderable,  may  be  inferred 
from  the   influence  of  the  Hebrew  State  on  the 


94  LEGISLATIVE    SCIENCE. 

political  condition  of  the  world,  during  the  early 
ages  of  the  Grecian  history,  as  well  as  from  the 
direct  testimony  of  learned  men.  Very  many 
points  of  resemblance  between  the  Grecian  laws 
and  customs,  and  those  of  the  Hebrews  are  stated 
by  Archbishop  Potter,  in  his  Antiquities.  The 
Athenians  had  a  prescribed  bill  of  divorce,  and  so 
had  the  Jews.  Among  the  Jews,  the  father  gave 
names  to  the  children  5  and  such  was  the  custom 
among  the  Greeks.  The  purgation  oath  among 
the  Greeks  strongly  resembles  the  oath  of  jealousy 
among  the  Hebrews.  The  harvest  and  vintage 
festival  among  the  Greeks — the  presentation  of 
the  best  of  their  flocks,  and  the  oflTering  of  their 
first  fruits  to  the  gods — together  with  the  portion 
prescribed  for  the  priests — the  interdiction  against 
garments  of  diverse  colours — protection  from  vio- 
lence to  the  man  who  fled  to  their  altars — would 
seem  to  indicate  that  the  Greeks  had  cautiously 
copied  the  usages  of  the  Jews.  And  whence  was 
it  that  no  person  was  permitted  to  approach  the 
altar  of  Diana,  who  had  touched  a  dead  body,  or 
been  exposed  to  other  causes  of  impurity,  and  that 
the  laws  of  Athens  admitted  no  man  to  the 
priesthood  who  had  any  blemish  upon  his  person, 
unless  from  the  institutions  of  Moses  ?  And  has 
not  the  agrarian  law  of  Lycurgus  its  prototype, 
though  none  of  its  defects,  in  the  agrarian  law  of 
the  Hebrews  ?  Many  of  the  Athenian  laws  in  re- 
lation to  the  descent  of  property,  and  the  prohi- 
bited degrees  of  relationship  in  marriage,  seem  to 


LEGISLATIVE    SCIENCE.  95 

have  been  transcribed  by  Solon  from  the  laws  of 
Moses.  Sir  Matthew  Hale,  in  his  History  of  the 
Common  Law  of  England^  affirms,  "  that  among 
the  Grecians,  the  laws  of  descents  resemble  those 
of  the  Jews." 

It  will  be  universally  conceded  that  the  Roman^ 
or  Civil  Law^  as  collected  and  digested  by  the 
order  of  Justinian,  has  exerted  a  powerful  influ- 
ence even  on  the  institutions  of  modern  times.  Nor 
is  it  to  be  supposed  that  this  intelligent  people,  who 
had  long  suffered  under  the  evils  of  unwritten  laws, 
when  they  turned  their  attention  to  the  formation 
of  a  more  certain  and  permanent  code,  would  not 
consult  the  existing  laws  of  the  wisest  nations. 
Both  ancient  and  modern  writers  of  Roman  his- 
tory, therefore  affirm,  that  the  individuals  commis- 
sioned by  the  senate  and  tribunes  to  form  the 
Twelve  Tables,  were  directed  to  examine  the  laws 
of  Athens  and  the  Grecian  cities.  So  that  the  Ro- 
man law  must  have  been  not  a  little  indebted  to 
the  Mosaic. 

Sir  Matthew  Hale  remarks,  "  that  among  the 
many  preferences  which  the  laws  of  England  have 
above  others,  the  two  principal  ones  are,  the  here- 
ditary transmission  of  property,  and  the  trial  by 
jury."  And  who  does  not  see  that  these  originated 
with  the  Jews  ?  By  the  law  of  Moses,  the  succes- 
sion, in  the  descending  line,  was  all  to  the  sons,  ex- 
cept that  the  oldest  son  had  a  double  portion.  If 
the  son  died  in  his  father's  lifetime,  the  grandson 
succeeded  to  the  portion  of  his  father.     Daughters 


96  LEGISLATIVE    SCIENCE. 

had  no  inheritance  so  long  as  there  were  sons,  or 
descendants  of  sons.  Where  the  father  left  only 
daughters  and  no  sons,  the  daughters  succeeded 
equally.  And  was  there  nothing  in  the  administra- 
tion of  penal  justice  among  the  Hebrews,  that  sug- 
gested at  least  the  trial  hy  jury  ?  I  mean  the  pub- 
licity of  their  trials  in  the  gates  of  the  city,  where 
their  judges,  though  elders  and  Levites,  were  taken 
from  the  general  mass  of  the  citizens.  Sir  Mat- 
thew Hale,  in  the  work  to  which  reference  has 
already  been  made,  has  another  remark  in  relation 
to  the  influence  which  the  Bible  generally  has  ex- 
erted upon  the  laws  of  England.  In  speaking  of 
the  difficulties  of  ascertaining  the  origin  of  the 
common  law,  among  the  rest  he  enumerates  the 
"  growth  of  Christianity  in  the  kingdom,  introdu- 
cing some  new  laws,  or  abrogating  some  old  ones, 
that  seemed  less  consistent  with  Christian  doc- 
trines." A  portion  of  the  common  law  as  it  now 
stands  was  first  collected  by  Alfred  the  Great  5  and 
it  is  asserted  by  Sismondi,  in  his  History  of  the  Fall 
of  the  Roman  Empire,  that  when  this  prince 
"  caused  a  republication  of  the  Saxon  laws,  he  in- 
serted several  laws  taken  from  the  Judaical  ritual 
into  his  statutes,  as  if  to  give  new  strength  and  co- 
gency to  the  principles  of  morality."  And  hence 
it  is  no  uncommon  thing  in  the  early  English  re- 
porters to  find  frequent  references  to  the  Mosaic 
law.  Sismondi  also  states  that  one  of  the  first  acts 
of  the  clergy  under  Pepin  and  Charlemagne  of 
France,  was  to  introduce  into  the  legislation  of  the 


LEGISLATIVE    SCIENCE.  97 

Franks,  several  of  the  Mosaic  laws  found  in  the 
books  of  Deuteronomy  and  Leviticus. 

I  need  not  say,  that  the  entire  code  of  civil  and 
judicial  statutes  throughout  New  England,  as  well 
as  throughout  those  states  first  settled  by  the  de- 
scendants of  New  England,  shows  nothing  more 
distinctly  than  that  its  framers  were  familiar  with 
the  Bible,  and  substantially  adopted  "  the  judicial 
laws  of  God,  as  they  were  delivered  by  Moses,  as 
binding  and  a  rule  to  all  their  courts  V  And  why 
should  not  this  sacred  book,  so  full  of  the  counsels 
of  wisdom,  and  itself  a  law  to  man,  exert  a  para- 
mount influence  on  all  human  laws,  wherever  it  is 
known  and  revered  ?  "  The  Scripture,"  says  the 
judicious  Hooker,  "  is  fraught  even  with  the  laws 
of  nature,  insomuch  that  Gratian,  defining  natural 
right^  termeth  it  that  which  the  books  of  the  law 
and  the  gospel  do  contain.  Neither  is  it  vain  that 
the  Scripture  aboundeth  with  so  great  store  of  laws 
of  this  kind  5  for  they  are  such  as  we  of  ourselves 
could  not  easily  have  found  out ;  and  then  the  benefit 
is  not  small  to  have  them  readily  set  down  to  our 
hands  5  or  if  they  be  so  clear  and  manifest,  that  no 
man  endued  with  reason  can  lightly  be  ignorant  of 
them,  yet  the  Spirit,  as  it  were,  borrowing  them 
from  the  school  of  nature,  and  applying  them,  is 
not  without  most  singular  use  and  profit  for  men's 
instruction." 

It  was  from  God  himself  that  one  nation,  and 
one  only  immediately  received  their  laws.  And 
they  are  worthy  to  be  regarded  as  the  model  for 

9 


98  LEGISLATIVE    SCIENCE. 

all  succeeding  ages.  There  is  no  comparison  be- 
tween the  laws  of  this  people  and  the  laws  of  other 
ancient  nations,  except  as  the  latter  were  bor- 
rowed from  the  institutions  of  Moses.  The  learned 
Michaelis,  who  was  professor  of  law  in  the  univer- 
sity of  Gottengen,  remarks,  "  that  a  man  who  con- 
siders laws  philosophically,  who  would  survey  them 
with  the  eye  of  a  Montesquieu,  would  never  over- 
look the  laws  of  Moses."  Goguet,  in  his  elaborate 
and  learned  treatise  on  the  Origin  of  Laws^  ob- 
serves, that  "  the  more  we  meditate  on  the  laws  of 
Moses,  the  more  we  shall  perceive  their  wisdom 
and  inspiration.  They  alone  have  the  inestimable 
advantage  never  to  have  undergone  any  of  the 
revolutions  common  to  all  human  laws,  which  have 
always  demanded  frequent  amendments  ;  some- 
times changes  ;  sometimes  additions  5  sometimes 
the  retrenching  of  superfluities.  There  has  been 
nothing  changed,  nothing  added,  nothing  retrench- 
ed from  the  laws  of  Moses  for  above  three  thousand 
years."  Milman,  in  his  history  of  the  Jews,  re- 
marks, that  "  the  Hebrew  lawgiver  has  exercised  a 
more  extensive  and  permanent  influence  over  the 
destinies  of  mankind,  than  any  other  individual  in 
the  annals  of  the  world."  It  was  the  opinion  of 
that  distinguished  statesman  and  jurist,  the  late 
Fisher  Ames,  dare  et  venerabile  nomen,  that  "  no 
man  could  be  a  sound  lawyer  who  was  not  well 
read  in  the  laws  of  Moses." 

This  venerable  code  claims  our  reverence,  if  it 
were  for  nothing  but  its  high  antiquity.     But   it 


LEGISLATIVE    SCIENCE.  99 

has  higher  claims.  Taken  as  a  whole,  it  contains 
more  sublime  truths,  and  maxims  more  essentially 
connected  with  the  well-being  of  our  race,  than  all 
the  profane  writers  of  antiquity  could  furnish. 
They  were  perfect  at  their  formation  j  uniting  all 
that  is  authoritative  in  obligation,  with  all  that  is 
benevolent  in  their  tendency,  and  not  less  condu- 
cive to  the  glory  of  the  lawgiver,  than  to  the  hap- 
piness of  his  subjects.  That  bold  personification 
of  law  in  the  abstract  made  by  Hooker,  may  with 
strong  propriety  be  applied  to  the  system  of  legis- 
lation revealed  in  the  Bible.  "  Of  law  there  can 
be  no  less  acknowledged,  than  that  her  seat  is  the 
bosom  of  God,  her  voice  the  harmony  of  the  world. 
All  things  in  heaven  and  earth  do  her  homage  5 
the  very  least  as  feeling  her  care,  and  the  greatest 
as  not  exempt  from  her  power.  Both  angels  and 
men,  and  creatures  of  what  condition  soever, 
though  each  in  a  different  sort  and  name,  yet  all 
with  one  uniform  consent,  admire  her  as  the  mother 
of  their  peace  and  joy." 

A  portion  of  this  law  was  designed  to  be  author- 
itatively binding  on  the  Jews  alone  5  another  por- 
tion of  it  is  equally  binding  on  us ,  and  "  though 
heaven  and  earth  pass  away,  shall  never  pass 
away." — "  Thou  shalt  love  the  Lord  thy  God  with 
all  thy  heart,  and  thy  neighbour  as  thyself."  The 
nature  and  extent  of  this  law,  and  our  everlasting 
responsibilities  to  it  as  the  creatures  of  God,  as  in- 
telhgent  and  responsible  agents,  it  becomes  us,  my 
young  friends  gravely  to  investigate,  both  as  it  re- 


100  LEGISLATIVE    SCIENCE. 

lates  to  our  destiny  in  this  world  and  that  which  is 
to  come.  We  are  not,  hke  the  vegetative  and  ani- 
mal creation,  passive  subjects,  submitting  to  the 
imperative  law  of  our  nature,  but  active,  accounta- 
ble existences,  voluntarily  obeying  or  refusing  to 
obey.  All  the  features  of  this  law  we  know  are 
"  holy,  just,  and  good."  Its  very  penalty  is  but  the 
sterner  accent  of  love  warning  us  of  our  danger. 
Its  penalty  and  precept  are  both  written  upon  the 
conscience  5  and  wo  be  to  the  transgressor,  who, 
because  it  is  no  longer  the  rule  of  his  justification 
before  God,  disregards  it  as  the  rule  of  his  duty. 


LECTURE  IV. 


THE   BIBLE   FRIENDLY   TO    CIVIL   LIBERTY. 


Every  considerate  friend  of  civil  liberty,  in  order 
to  be  consistent  with  himself,  must  be  the  friend 
of  the  Bible.  I  have  yet  to  learn,  that  tyrants 
have  ever  effectually  conquered  and  subjugated  a 
people,  whose  liberties  and  public  virtue  were 
founded  upon  the  word  of  God.  The  American 
people,  I  am  confident,  owe  much  in  this  respect 
to  the  influence  of  this  great  charter  of  human 
freedom.  I  need  scarcely  soUcit  the  favourable 
regard  of  my  audience,  therefore,  when  I  say  to 
them,  that  the  topic  of  the  present  lecture  is  the 
influence  which  the  Holy  Scriptures  have  exerted, 
and  are  adapted  to  exert  upon  civil  hberty. 

Civil  liberty  is  not  freedom  from  restraint.  Men 
may  be  wisely  and  benevolently  checked  and  con- 
troled,  and  yet  be  free.  No  man  has  a  right  to 
act  as  he  thinks  fit,  irrespective  of  the  wishes  and 
interests  of  others.  This  were  exemption  from  the 
restraints  of  all  law,  and  from  all  the  wholesome 


102  CIVIL    LIBERTY. 

influence  of  social  institutions.  Heaven  itself  were 
not  free,  if  this  w^ere  freedom.  No  created  being 
holds  any  such  liberty  as  this,  by  a  divine  warrant. 
The  spirit  of  subordination,  so  far  from  being  in- 
consistent with  liberty,  is  inseparable  from  it.  It 
is  essential  to  liberty  that  men  should  be  subjected 
to  the  restraints  of  law  j  and  where  this  restraint 
is  limited  by  a  wise  regard  to  the  best  interests  of 
the  State,  there  men  are  free.  Every  restraint  of 
natural  liberty  that  is  arbitrary  and  needless  *,  that 
is  imposed  on  one  class  of  society,  merely  for  the 
sake  of  aggrandizing,  and  augmenting  the  influence 
of  another  5  every  restraint  that  is  not  called  for, 
for  the  purpose  of  securing  to  men  of  every  rank 
and  condition  their  just  rights,  and  of  diffusing  the 
spirit  of  industry,  virtue  and  peace,  is  in  its  own 
nature  tyranny  and  oppression.  The  highest  de- 
gree of  civil  liberty  is  enjoyed  where  natural  liberty 
is  so  far  only  abridged  and  restrained,  as  is  neces- 
sary and  expedient  for  the  safety  and  interest  of 
the  society  or  State.  A  community  may  be  free, 
for  example,  without  extending  to  persons  of  all 
ages  and  both  sexes  the  right  of  suflrage ;  without 
making  all  eligible  to  office  5  without  abolishing 
the  distinction  of  rank ;  without  annihilating  the 
correlative  and  reciprocal  rights  and  duties  of 
master  and  servant  ^  without  destroying  filial  sub- 
ordination and  parental  claims  j  without  abolishing 
the  punishment  of  crime  j  without  abjuring  the 
restraints  of  sanative  and  maritime  law  ^  and  with- 
out giving  up  the  right  of  those  compulsory  services 


CIVIL    LIBERTY.  103 

of  its  subjects  which  the  common  weal  demands. 
The  civil  liberty  of  men  "  depends  not  so  much  on 
the  removal  of  all  restraint  from  them^  as  in  the 
due  restraint  of  the  natural  liberty  of  others.'^'' 
There  are  a  few  leading  principles  on  which  all  free 
governments  must  forever  rest.  They  are  such  as 
the  following :  That  government  is  instituted  for 
the  good  of  the  people — that  it  is  the  right  and 
duty  of  the  people  to  become  acquainted  with 
their  public  interests — that  all  laws  constitutionally 
enacted,  should  be  faithfully  and  conscientiously 
obeyed — that  the  people,  by  their  representatives, 
should  have  a  voice  in  the  enaction  of  these  laws 
— that  mild  and  moderate  laws  should  be  invested 
with  energy — that  the  life,  liberty,  and  property  of 
no  man  shall  be  infringed  upon,  except  by  process 
of  law — that  every  man  who  respects  and  obeys 
the  laws  has  a  right  to  protection  and  support — 
and  that  all  that  is  valuable  in  civil  institutions 
rests  on  the  intelligence  and  virtue  of  the  people. 
Such,  as  far  as  I  am  acquainted  with  them,  are  the 
great  principles  of  civil  liberty  and  a  free  govern- 
ment, let  the  form  of  that  government  be  what  it 
may.  It  may  be  monarchical,  or  republican  5  its 
constitution  may  be  written,  or  unwritten  5  but 
wherever  the  duties  of  magistrates  and  subjects 
are  prescribed  and  deffi.ed,  and  their  rights  pro- 
tected by  the  preceeding  principles,  a  people  may 
be  said  to  be  free. 

There  never  has  been  any  such  thing  as  true 
freedom  among  those  who  were  ignorant  of  the 


104  CIVIL    LIBERTY. 

word  of  God.  The  great  mass  of  men  from  the 
more  early  ages  of  the  world  to  the  present  time, 
have  been  controlled  by  mere  arbitrary  power. 
They  have  known  very  little  of  exemption  from 
the  arbitrary  will  of  others.  In  many  countries, 
this  exemption  has  indeed  been  secured  by  estab- 
lished laws,  and  has  had  the  semblance  of  salutary 
restraint  5  while  the  laws  themselves  have  been 
lawless  and  arbitrary ;  at  one  time  extravagantly 
severe,  and  at  another  extravagantly  indulgent, 
and  the  mere  expression  of  individual  fickleness 
and  authority. 

There  are  few  profane  historians,  with  the  ex- 
ception of  Herodotus  and  Thucydides  that  can  be 
relied  upon,  which  give  any  account  of  the  world 
earlier  than  Alexander.  From  that  time  down- 
wards, the  history  of  nations  becomes  more  clear, 
just,  and  authentic ;  but  from  that  time  upwards, 
the  Bible  is  the  only  source  of  authentic  informa- 
tion. There  was  a  general  dispersion  of  mankind 
into  various  parts  of  the  world,  as  early  as  the 
days  of  Peleg,  and  probably,  just  before  the  death 
of  Noah,  and  under  his  direction.  Eusebius  and 
Winder  give  some  very  plausible  reasons,  to  say 
the  least,  for  this  opinion.  The  dispersion  was 
completed  at  the  Tower  c^^abel,  when  the  pos- 
terity of  Ham,  who,  under  me  direction  of  Nimrod 
had  wrested  the  plains  of  Babylon  from  the  de- 
scendants of  Shem,  were  scattered  abroad  upon 
the  face  of  the  whole  earth.  The  beginning  of 
Nimrod's  kingdom  was  Babel.     And  the  Bible  in- 


CIVIL    LIBERRY.  105 

forms  us  what  a  despot  he  was  5  everywhere  insti- 
gating war  and  bloodshed,  laying  the  nations  under 
tribute,  and  transmitting  his  despotic  and  warlike 
power  from  generation  to  generation,  till  the  Egyp- 
tians drove  his  descendants  into  Canaan  and  Joshua 
drove  them  into  Greece.  Ninus  inherited  the 
tyranny  of  his  father  5  and  the  whole  history  of 
the  Assyrian  empire  from  the  days  of  Ninus  to  its 
overthrow  by  the  Babylonians  and  the  Medes,  is  a 
history  of  the  most  absolute  despotism.  Such  also 
was  the  character  of  the  Babylonian  empire  from 
the  revolt  of  Nebopolassar  to  its  destruction  by 
Cyrus.  Egypt  and  Persia  also  were  equally  stran- 
gers to  civil  liberty.  And  with  some  partial  re- 
strictions, by  which  the  authority  of  the  former 
was  controlled  by  established  customs,  and  that  of 
the  latter  by  the  senate,  such  was  the  character 
of  imperial  Greece  and  Rome.  The  republics 
of  Greece  and  Rome  were  comparatively  free; 
though  their  freedom  was  far  from  being  founded 
upon  a  correct  understanding  of  the  rights  of  man. 
I  do  not  know  that  there  is  in  antiquity  a  single 
example  of  a  free  state,  in  which  the  people  have 
exerted  any  due  influence  upon  the  government 
until  you  come  to  the  Jewish  republic.  When  I 
cast  my  eyes  over  the  earth  at  the  present  day,  I 
cannot  fix  them  on  a  flftgle  Pagan,  Mahomedan, 
or  Antichristian  country,  where  the  genius  of 
liberty  has  a  dwelling  place;  she  may  at  times 
have  hovered  over  them,  hke  the  dove  over  the 


106  CIVIL    LIBERTY. 

waste  of  waters,  but  like  her,  has  found  no  rest  for 
the  sole  of  her  foot. 

The  Bible  is  the  great  protector  and  guardian 
of  the  liberties  of  men.  It  is  the  true  basis,  and 
the  only  basis  of  the  temple  of  freedom.  It  is  the 
necessary  result  of  an  acquaintance  with  the  word 
of  God  that  a  people  should  be  restive  under  a 
tyrants  yoke,  and  sooner  or  later  break  from  their 
chains.  It  is  a  maxim  in  the  Romish  Church, 
that  "  ignorance  is  the  mother  of  devotion  5"  but 
the  true  origin  of  this  aphorism  is,  that  ignorance 
rivets  the  chains  of  civil  as  well  as  ecclesiastical 
power.  It  were  impossible  for  a  people  to  be 
ignorant  of  their  own  rights,  or  the  responsi- 
bilities of  their  rulers,  who  are  deeply  and  honestly 
imbued  with  the  principles  of  the  Bible.  Where 
the  Bible  forms  public  opinion,  a  nation  must  be 
free.  Who  does  not  see  that  such  a  tyrant  as 
Nero,  or  Caligula  j  or  such  a  wretch  as  Henry 
VIII.  of  England,  or  Charles  IX.  of  France,  or 
Juhus  II.  or  Alexander  IV.  would  not  be  tolerated 
in  Protestant  Christendom  for  an  hour  ?  The  rea- 
son is,  men  read  and  understand  the  Bible.  Moral 
and  religious  knowledge  is  everywhere  circulated, 
and  men  can  no  more  submit  to  chains  in  a  Chris- 
tian land,  than  they  can  be  suffocated,  while  they 
live  and  breathe  a  vital  atmosphere. 

Considering  the  age  of  the  world  in  which  the 
Jewish  code  was  established,  and  how  little  the 
doctrine  of  personal  rights  was  understood  in  the 


CIVIL   LIBERTY.-  107 

world  generally,  is  it  not  somewhat  remarkable 
that  the  laws  of  Moses  were  so  decidedly  the 
friend  of  civil  liberty  ?  I  have  taken  some  pains 
to  examine  some  of  the  most  instructive  writers, 
for  the  purpose  of  ascertaining  whether  the  heau- 
ideal  of  a  free  government  were  not  realized  in 
the  Hebrew  State.  And  I  confess  I  have  been 
not  a  httle  delighted  and  surprised.  I  know  not 
where  to  look  for  any  single  work  which  is  so  full 
of  the  great  principles  of  political  wisdom  as  the 
laws  of  Moses  and  the  history  of  the  Kings  of 
Judah  and  Israel.  There  is  not  to  my  knowledge 
any  where  to  be  found  such  abundant  and  effective 
illustrations  of  these  great  principles,  as  are  found 
in  the  laws  and  history  of  this  people.  Notwith- 
standing their  recent  servitude  to  a  foreign  and  des- 
potic prince,  and  though  just  entering  upon  a  tedious 
pilgrimage  in  the  deserts  of  Arabia,  they  adopted 
a  regular  form  of  government.  It  was  a  govern- 
ment which  lasted  almost  half  a  century  before 
they  came  to  their  promised  land ;  and  which,  when 
they  were  ultimately  settled  in  that  land,  remained 
for  a  series  of  years  undisturbed,  and  enabled  them 
to  maintain  their  independence  throughout  all  the 
varieties  of  their  national  history.  And  yet,  with 
the  exception  of  the  writ  of  habeas  corpus^  a 
privilege  not  required  under  their  government,  be- 
cause it  did  not  allow  of  imprisonment,  I  do  not 
know  that  there  is  a  single  feature  of  a  free  State, 
but   is   here   distinctly  developed.     They  were  a 


108  CIVIL    LIBERTY. 

people  remarkably  well  acquainted  with  their 
rights  and  form  of  government.  One  reason,  no 
doubt,  why  God  left  them  wandering  forty  years 
in  the  desert  of  Arabia,  was  that  the  various  parts 
of  their  political  machinery  might  be  arranged 
and  adjusted,  and  well  understood  among  them- 
selves, before  they  took  possession  of  the  promised 
land.  And  it  was  thus  arranged  and  understood, 
and  proved  itself  not  less  adapted  to  their  pros- 
perity, than  their  adversity  j  to  their  final  settle- 
ment in  Palestine,  than  their  pilgrimage  in  the 
wilderness.  Though  rich  in  resources,  and  power- 
ful in  arms,  they  were  free.  Though  holding,  as 
they  did  in  the  time  of  David  and  Solomon,  the 
balance  of  power  between  the  two  great  monarch- 
ies of  Egypt  and  Assyria,  and  giving  law  to  all 
the  petty  kingdoms  between  the  Euphrates  and 
the  Mediterranean,  they  remained  a  free  people. 
They  were  free  in  choosing  their  own  form  of  go- 
vernment 5  free  in  the  enaction  of  their  laws; 
free  in  that  "the  laws  governed,  and  not  men." 
The  superior  excellence  of  the  Mosaic  institu- 
tions, when  compared  with  the  institutions  of  the 
most  celebrated  pagan  nations,  is  strikingly  dis- 
played in  their  attachment  to  the  cause  of  free- 
dom. They  were  founded  on  a  sound  knowledge 
of  human  nature,  and  such  as  the  art  and  science 
of  government  rest  upon  every  where.  There 
was  every  security  for  the  preservation  of  social 
order  which  could  be  imparted  on  the  one  hand 


CIVIL    LIBERTY.  109 

by  a  veneration  for  power,  and  on  the  other  by  a 
high  sense  of  personal  independence  and  indivi- 
dual rights. 

The  form  of  government  established  by  Moses 
was   republican  y   though,   with   salutary   restric- 
tions, the  people  were  at  liberty  to  change  it  when 
they  desired.     It  consisted  of  twelve  great  tribes  5 
each  under  its   own   leader    constituting   a   little 
commonwealth,  while  all  were  united  in  one  great 
repubhc.      They  were  a  nation  of  confederated 
states,  bound  together  for  the  purposes  of  defence 
and  conquest.   Their  government  was  more  nearly 
assimilated  to  that  of  the  Cantons  of  Switzerland, 
and  the  Confederated  States  of  our  own  Union, 
than  any  other  government.     It  bore  some  resem- 
blance to  that  of  the  ancient  Gauls,  or  Celtse  5  and 
still  more  to  that  of  the  ancient  Britons,  except 
that   the   Gauls   and    Britons   had   no   federative 
bond.      During   the    commonwealth,   they    chose 
and  accepted  God  as  their  King,  and  he  chose 
and   declared   them  his   peculiar  people.     When 
their  form  of  government  was  changed,  it  was  at 
their  own  request  and    solicitation.     From  a  re- 
public, it  became  an  elective,  hmited  monarchy ; 
under   which  their   kings,  whether   appointed  by 
God,  or  hereditary,  did  not  enter  upon  the  func- 
tions of  their  office  until  they  were  accepted  and 
crowned  by  the  people,  and  by  a  sworn  capitula- 
tion were  restricted  in   their  prerogative.     Their 
laws,  though  originating  for  the  most   part   with 
God,  were  approved  by  themselves.     The  nation, 

10 


110  CIVIL    LIBERTY. 

in  other  words,  adopted  their  own  laws.  Nor  is 
there  an  instance  on  record,  to  the  best  of  my 
knowledge,  in  which  their  laws  were  not  proposed 
to  the  representatives  of  the  people,  and  received 
their  unanimous  consent.  On  the  one  hand, 
there  were  some  strong  democratic  tendencies  in 
their  government,  and  in  the  other  some  strong 
tendencies  to  despotism ;  but  both  under  so  many 
checks  and  balances,  that  never  was  nation  better 
acquainted  with  their  public  interests,  and  rarely 
have  the  rights  and  duties  of  rulers  and  subjects 
been  more  definitely  prescribed,  or  life,  liberty  and 
property  more  secure. 

The  liberties  of  a  people  depend  much  on  the 
proper  distribution  of  landed  property.  The  He- 
brew government  was  founded  on  an  equal  agra- 
rian law.  Unlike  the  agrarian  law  of  Lycurgus, 
which  debased  the  Spartans  to  a  state  of  semi-bar- 
barism, and  ultimately  committed  the  culture  of 
their  lands  to  their  slaves  j  and  equally  unlike  the 
feudal  system  of  the  middle  ages,  which  has  given 
shape  and  colouring  to  all  the  political  and  civil 
institutions  of  modern  Europe ;  it  made  provision 
for  the  support  of  600,000  yeomanry,  with  from 
six  to  twenty-five  acres  of  land  each,  which  they 
held  independant  of  all  temporal  superiors,  and 
which  they  might  not  alienate,  but  on  the  condi- 
tion of  their  reverting  to  the  families  which  origi- 
nally possessed  them,  every  fiftieth  year.*     Such 


*  Graves'  Lectures  on  the  Pentateuch. 


CIVIL    LIBERTY.  Ill 

were  the  immunities  of  the  mass  of  the  Hebrew 
population ,  not  of  its  lords,  nor  its  vassals,  but  its 
medium  population.  There  were  the  poor  beneath 
them,  and  men  of  superior  rank  and  property 
above  them, — the  princes  of  their  tribes  and  the 
heads  of  their  thousands.  But  there  was  no  de- 
graded peasantry  and  no  hereditary  noblesse. 
And  notwithstanding  all  that  has  been  said  of  the 
pre-eminence  of  one  poor,  dependant  tribe — a  tribe 
that  were  disqualified  from  becoming  the  proprie- 
tors of  a  single  foot  of  landed  property — never 
was  there  less  of  a  proud  aristocracy  in  any  form 
to  trample  on  the  rights  of  the  poor,  or,  until  a 
late  period  of  their  kingdom,  of  a  merciless  oppres- 
sion of  the  lower  orders  of  the  people.  No  nobler 
people,  no  better  organized  community  ever  existed, 
than  the  ancient  Hebrews.  Inured  to  honourable 
industry — wealthy,  but  without  ostentatious  mag- 
nificence— ready  at  a  moments  call  to  resist  every 
attack  upon  their  country^s  freedom — with  an 
honest  pride  exulting  in  their  revered  ancestry — 
they  may  well  be  regarded,  during  the  more  auspi- 
cious periods  of  their  history,  as  the  noblest  speci- 
men of  a  free  and  independant  nation.  The  proud 
descendant  of  Abraham  was  not  always  what  he 
is  now.  "Many-  that  are  first  shall  be  last,  and 
many  that  are  last  shall  be  first."  We  may  con- 
ceive of  the  sadness  and  despondency  with  which 
some  lineal  son  of  the  ancient  family  of  God,  seated 
by  the  rivers  of  some  modern  Babylon,  would  ex- 
claim, "  how  shall  I  sing  the  Lord's  song  in  a  strange 


112  CIVIL    LIBERTY. 

land !"  And  we  may  easily  conceive  of  the  high 
enthusiasm  that  would  enkindle  in  his  bosom  as  he 
turns  his  thoughts  in  prospect  toward  the  hills  of 
his  own  loved  Palestine,  and  anticipates  the  time 
when  his  people  shall  be  no  longer  a  hissing  and  a 
by-word  among  the  nations.  How  would  his  eye 
kindle,  as  by  the  light  of  prophecy  he  beholds  the 
lion  of  the  tribe  of  Judah  displace  the  crescent 
that  even  now  waves  over  the  ruined  Temple,  and 
the  mosque  of  Omar  fall  before  the  man  who  in 
the  visions  of  God  had  a  "  line  of  flax  and  a  mea- 
suring reed  in  his  hand,"  to  rebuild  the  walls  that 
are  once  more  to  contain  the  emblems  of  the 
divine  presence  and  glory !  How  would  his  heart 
beat  with  hope  as  such  visions  passed  before  him, 
and  taking  his  harp  from  the  willows,  with  what 
emotions  would  he  again  sing,  "  The  Lord  is  my 
strength  and  song,  and  he  is  become  my  salvation  j 
he  is  my  God,  and  I  will  prepare  him  an  habita- 
tion ;  my  fathers  God,  and  I  will  exalt  him." 

"Where  the  spirit  of  the  Lord  is,  there  is 
liberty."  The  love  of  liberty  thus  expressed  in 
the  Old  Testament  is  still  more  clearly  indicated 
by  the  Christian  dispensation.  One  of  the  most 
unfounded  objections  to  Christianity  that  ever 
originated  with  designing,  or  was  believed  by 
foolish  men,  is  that  it  is  adapted  to  subject  the 
many  to  the  few.  So  far  from  this,  it  is  the  only 
religion  which  honestly  and  effectually  c6nsults 
the  interests  of  men  for  time,  as  well  as  eternity. 
It  is  the  only  instrument  by  which  the  poor  can 


CIVIL   LIBERTY.  113 

defend  their  rights  and  resist  the  encroachments 
of  the  proud  and  oppressive.  The  whole  spirit 
and  genius  of  Christianity  are  everywhere  friendly 
to  freedom.  It  teaches  us  that  men  of  every  tribe, 
language,  clime,  and  colour  are  the  creatures  of 
God.  It  announces  that  the  great  Creator  "  hath 
made  of  one  blood  all  nations  of  men  to  dwell  on 
the  face  of  the  earth."  It  pronounces  the  inci- 
dental, and  circumstantial,  and  temporary  distinc- 
tions between  men,  as  of  minor  consequence,  and 
of  no  account  whatever,  when  compared  with  the 
great  points  of  similitude  which  result  from  their 
common  origin,  their  common  depravity,  their 
common  suffering,  common  dependance,  and  com- 
mon responsibilities. 

It  is  remarked  of  the  divine  Founder  of  the 
Christian  faith,  that  the  "  common  people  heard 
him  gladly."  He  was  himself  one  of  the  common 
people.  He  was  raised  from  an  obscure  family  in 
Israel,  and  was  from  the  humbler  walks  of  life. 
All  his  sympathies  were  with  the  common  people. 
He  knew  the  heart  of  the  suffering  and  oppressed, 
and  was  touched  with  the  feeling  of  their  infirmi- 
ties. Of  the  same  character  were  his  Apostles, 
and  the  principal  teachers  of  his  religion.  And  of 
the  same  character  do  we  find  all  their  doctrines 
and  precepts.  "  To  the  poor  the  gospel  is  preach- 
ed. In  Christ  Jesus,  there  is  neither  Greek  nor 
Jew,  barbarian  nor  Scythian,  bond  nor  free." 
"The  cultivated  heathen,"  says  Tholuck,  "were 
offended  at  Christianity  precisely  for  this  reason, 

10* 


114  CIVIL    LIBERTY. 

that  the  higher  classes  could  no  longer  have  pre- 
cedence of  the  common  people."*  We  have  very 
justly  regarded  the  Kingdom  of  Spain,  as  furnish- 
ing no  very  enviable  exhibition  of  civil  liberty. 
But  notwithstanding  all  the  corruptions  of  Christi- 
anity in  that  Papal  Kingdom,  evidence  is  not 
wanting,  that  it  exerted  some  influence  at  least  in 
restraining  arbritrary  power.  In  the  last  hours  of 
the  distinguished  Queen  Isabella,  a  recent  and  ac- 
comphshed  historian  of  our  own  country  informs 
us,  that  "  she  expressed  her  doubts  as  to  the  legali- 
ty of  the  revenue  of  the  alcavalas^  constituting  the 
principal  income  of  the  crown.  She  directed  a 
commission  to  ascertain  whether  it  were  originally 
intended  to  be  perpetual,  and  if  this  were  done 
with  the  free  consent  of  the  people :  enjoining  her 
heirs  in  that  event,  to  collect  the  tax  so  that  it 
should  press  least  heavily  on  her  subjects.  Should 
it  be  found  otherwise,  however,  she  directs  that 
the  legislature  be  summoned  to  devise  measures 
for  supplying  the  wants  of  the  crown — measures 
depending  for  their  validity  on  the  good  pleasure 
of  the  subjects  of  the  realm.'^^^ 

Never,  with  the  Bible  in  our  hands,  can  we 
deny  rights  to  another,  which  under  the  same  cir- 
cumstances we  would  claim  for  ourselves.  "  Chris- 
tianity," says  Montesquieu, "  is  a  stranger  to  despotic 


*  Biblical  Repository.     Vol.  II. 

j"  Prescot's  Hist,  of  the  reign  of  Ferdinand  and  Isabella. 


CIVIL    LIBERTY.  115 

power."  "The  religion,"  says  De  Tocqueville, 
"  which  declares  that  all  are  equal  in  the  sight  of 
God,  will  not  refuse  to  acknowledge  that  all  citi- 
zens are  equal  in  the  eye  of  the  law."  Elsewhere, 
this  elegant  and  instructive  writer  remarks,  "  Re- 
ligion is  the  companion  of  liberty  in  all  its  battles 
and  all  its  conflicts  5  the  cradle  of  its  infancy  and 
the  divine  source  of  its  claims."  Nor  is  it  any  un- 
usual thing  for  the  friends  of  liberty  in  France  to 
speak  in  terms  of  enthusiastic  commendation  of 
the  republicanism  of  the  Scriptures.  Even  the 
Abbe  de  la  Mennais,  whom  a  late  writer  distin- 
guishes as  one  of  the  most  powerful  minds  in 
Europe,  little  as  he  regards  Christianity  as  a  reve- 
lation from  God,  familarly  speaks  of  its  Author  as 
the  Great  Republican  of  his  age.  Our  distin- 
guished countryman,  the  late  Dewitt  Clinton,  in  a 
highly  polished  address  before  the  New  York  Al- 
pha of  the  Phi  Beta  Kappa,  writes  the  following 
thoughts  which  are  so  truly  worthy  of  his  charac- 
ter as  a  statesman,  and  his  creed  as  a  believer  in 
divine  revelation.  "  Christianity  is  in  its  essence, 
its  doctrines,  and  its  forms,  republican.  It  teaches 
our  descent  from  a  common  pair ;  it  inculcates 
the  natural  equality  of  mankind  5  and  it  points  to 
our  origin  and  our  end,  to  our  nativity  and  our 
graves,  and  to  our  immortal  destinies,  as  illustra- 
tions of  this  impressive  truth."  And  what  is  more 
to  our  purpose,  considering  the  prepossessions 
which  the  writer  has  so  often  avowed  against  the 
rehgion  of  the  New   Testament,   the   author  of 


116  CIVIL    LIBERTY. 

Travels^  in  England^  France^  Spain  and  the 
Barhary  States,  pays  the  following  unreluctant 
homage  to  the  beneficial  influence  which  Christi- 
anity exerts  upon  civil  liberty.  After  landing  in 
France  from  the  last  named  country,  he  remarks, 
"  I  could  breathe  freely,  speak  freely,  I  no  longer 
viewed  my  fellow  men  with  distrust,  and  I  thanked 
God  that  I  was  in  a  Christian  land."* 

And  what  is  the  language  of  facts  ?  Whence, 
with  the  exception  of  slavery  in  the  United  States, 
an  evil  brought  into  the  country  originally  under 
the  authority  of  the  British  government,  and  con- 
tinued in  defiance  of  all  the  remonstrances  of  our 
ancestors,  whence  is  that  equality  of  condition 
which  is  so  indicative  of  liberty,  so  much  more 
complete  in  Christian  countries,  than  in  any  other 
part  of  the  world  ?  Who  but  a  Christian  poet  has 
ever  sung, 

"  'Tis  Liberty  alone  that  gives  the  flower 
Of  fleeting  life  its  lustre  and  perfume  ; 
And  we  are  weeds  without  it  ?" 

Every  where  the  men  whose  minds  have  been  im- 
bued with  the  light  and  spirit  of  the  Holy  Scrip- 
tures, have  been  the  devoted  friends  of  civil 
liberty.  Such  were  the  Lollards  in  England,  the 
adherents  of  Luther  in  Germany,  and  of  John 
Knox  in  Scotland.     Such  was  Holland,  when  her 


*  Travels  in  England,  France,  Spain  and  the  Barbary  States, 
by  Mordecai  M.  Noah. 


CIVIL    LIBERTY.  117 

sturdy  republican  virtues,  the  learning  and  piety 
of  her  clergy,  and  the  excellence  of  her  moral  and 
literary  institutions  spread  her  fame  throughout 
the  earth.  Such  was  Switzerland,  not  only  during 
those  periods  when  she  was  most  free,  but  those 
in  which  she  struggled,  however  unsuccessfully, 
for  her  freedom.  Such  were  the  protestant  non- 
conformists from  the  days  of  the  Reformation  to 
the  death  of  Queen  Elizabeth.  Such  were  the 
Presbyterians  in  the  days  of  the  first  Charles. 
Such  were  others,  who,  though  in  some  respects 
misguided  men,  laid  their  hands  upon  the  Bible, 
and  boldly  proclaimed,  that  "  resistance  to  tyrants 
is  obedience  to  God."  Such  were  those  noble 
men,  the  Huguenots  of  New  York  and  New  Jer- 
sey, as  well  as  others  of  their  suffering  companions, 
who  fled  from  France,  and  sealed  their  testimony 
with  their  blood,  on  the  fatal  revocation  of  the 
edict  of  Nantz.  Such  also  were  the  Puritans  of 
New  England,  who  through  the  favour  of  Divine 
Providence,  opposed,  though  not  a  bolder,  a  more 
successful  resistance  to  despotic  power.  With  the 
courage  of  heroes  and  the  zeal  of  martyrs,  they 
struggled  for,  and  obtained  the  charter  of  liberty 
now  enjoyed  by  the  British  nation.  Even  the  his- 
torian, Hume,  whose  prepossessions  all  lay  on  the 
side  of  absolute  monarchy,  and  who  was  sufficient- 
ly prejudiced  against  the  Bible,  was  constrained 
to  the  confession,  "  that  the  precious  spark  of  li- 
berty had  been  kindled  and  was  preserved  by  the 
Puritans  alone^  and  that  it  was  to  this  sect  the 


118  CIVIL    LIBERTY. 

English  owe  the  whole  freedom  of  their  constitu- 
tion." It  has  been  common  with  a  certain  class 
of  writers  to  speak  evil  of  these  excellent  men. 
Those  who  would  not  do  this  ignorantly,  should 
acquaint  themselves  with  their  character  as  it  is 
exhibited  in  Brodies'  British  Empire,  from  the 
accession  of  Charles  I.  to  the  Restoration  5  in 
Vaughn's  Stuart  Dynasty ;  in  Godwin's  History  of 
the  Commonwealth,  and  in  Bishop  Burnet's  His- 
tory of  his  own  times.  The  general  character  of 
the  dissenters  of  the  independent  denominations 
in  England  also  verifies  the  scope  and  spirit  of 
these  remarks.  On  the  celebrated  motion  in  the 
House  of  Lords,  for  inquiry  iiito  the  cause  of  the 
death  of  the  devoted  missionary,  Smith,  in  one  of 
the  West  India  Islands,  Lord  Brougham  spoke  of 
the  Independents  as  a  "  body  of  men  to  be  held  in 
lasting  veneration  for  the  unshaken  fortitude  with 
which,  in  all  times,  they  have  maintained  their  at- 
tachment to  civil  liberty :  men,  to  whose  ancestors 
England  will  ever  acknowledge  a  boundless  debt 
of  gratitude,  as  long  as  freedom  is  prized  among 
us.  For  they,  I  fearlessly  confess  it,  they,  with 
whatever  ridicule  some  may  visit  their  excesses,  or 
with  whatever  blame  others,  they,  with  the  zeal 
of  martyrs,  the  purity  of  early  Christians,  the  skill 
and  courage  of  the  most  renowned  warriors,  ob- 
tained for  England  the  free  constitution  she  now 


enjoys. 

It  is  worthy  of  remark,  that  the  Bible  recog- 
nizes and  maintains  the  only  principle  on  which  it 


CIVIL    LIBERTY.  119 

is  possible  for  a  nation  ever  to  enjoy  the  blessings 
of  civil  liberty.  That  principle  is,  that  all  that  is 
valuable  in  the  institutions  of  civil  liberty  rests  on 
the  character  which  the  people  sustain  as  citizens. 
The  fear  of  God  is  the  foundation  of  political  free- 
dom. 

"  He  is  the  freeman  whom  the  truth  makes  free, 
And  all  are  slaves  beside." 

Bad  men  cannot  make  good  citizens.  It  is  impos- 
sible that  a  nation  of  infidels  or  idolaters  should  be 
a  nation  of  freemen.  It  is  when  a  people  forget 
God,  that  tyrants  forge  their  chains.  The  princi- 
ples of  liberty  and  the  principles  of  the  Bible  are 
most  exactly  coincident.  A  vitiated  state  of  mo- 
rals, a  corrupted  public  conscience  is  incompatible 
with  freedom.  Nothing  short  of  the  strong  influ- 
ence of  that  system  of  truth  which  God  has  re- 
vealed from  heaven  is  competent  so  to  guide,  mode- 
rate, and  preserve  the  balance  between  the  con- 
flicting interests  and  passions  of  men,  as  to  prepare 
them  for  the  blessings  of  free  government.  Hol- 
land was  free,  so  long  as  she  was  virtuous.  She 
was  a  flourishing  republic,  she  produced  great  and 
enlightened  statesmen,  until  she  became  corrupt, 
and  infidelity  spoiled  her  of  her  glory.  France 
would  have  become  free  on  the  accession  of  her 
present  citizen  king,  but  for  the  radical  deficiency 
in  her  moral  virtue.  When  the  distinguished  Per- 
rier,  who  succeeded  La  Fayette  in  the  office  of 
prime  minister  to  Louis  Philippe,  was  on  his  bed 


120  CIVIL    LIBERTY. 

of  death,  he  exclaimed  with  great  emphasis  and 
fervour,  La  France  doit  avoir  une  religion  I 
"  France  must  have  reUgion."  Liberty  cannot  exist 
without  morahty,  nor  morahty  without  the  rehgion 
of  the  Bible.  It  is  a  nation's  love  of  law,  its  love 
of  wise  and  benevolent  institutions,  its  attachment 
to  the  public  weal,  its  peaceful  and  benevolent  spi- 
rit, its  love  of  virtue,  and  these  alone  that  can  make 
it  free.  Take  these  away  and  there  must  be  tyrants 
in  their  place.  I  hold  no  axiom  more  true  or  more 
important  than  this,  that  man  must  be  governed 
by  moral  truth,  or  despotic  power.  As  soon  as  a 
nation  becomes  corrupt,  her  liberties  degenerate 
into  faction  5  and  then  nothing  short  of  the  strong 
arm  of  despotism  will  restrain  the  passions  of  men, 
and  controul  their  pride,  their  selfishness,  their  love 
of  gold,  their  thirst  for  domination,  and  their  brutal 
licentiousness.  The  Bible  alone  is  the  source  of 
that  high-toned  moral  principle  which  is  necessary 
to  all  classes,  in  all  their  intercourse,  for  the  exer- 
cise of  all  their  rights,  and  the  enjoyment  of  all  their 
privileges.  Without  it,  rulers  become  tyrants,  and 
the  people  are  fitted  only  for  servitude,  or  anarchy. 
Without  it,  there  is  no  such  thing  as  an  intelligent, 
lofty,  ardent,  honourable  and  disinterested  charac- 
ter. Nothing  else  is  capable  of  combining  a  nation 
into  one  great  brotherhood — annihilating  its  divi- 
sions— quenching  its  hate — destroying  its  spirit  of 
party — bringing  all  parts  with  all  their  jarring  inter- 
ests into  one  great  whole,  and  inscribing  on  the 
banner,  forever  sacred  to  freedom  and  virtue,  E 


CIVIL    LIBERRY.  121 

plurihus  unum.  Nothing  else  will  rightly  controul 
its  suffrages  5  send  up  a  salutary  influence  into  its 
senate  chamber  5  diffuse  its  power  through  all  ranks 
of  office  5  direct  learning  and  laws  5  act  on  com- 
merce and  the  arts,  and  spread  that  hallowed  influ- 
ence through  every  department  of  society  that  shall 
render  its  liberties  perpetual.  Statesmen  may  be 
slow  to  learn  from  the  Bible  5  but  they  will  find  no 
surer  guide  to  political  skiU  and  foresight.  The 
common  people  may  be  slow  to  learn  from  the 
Bible ;  but  they  will  no  where  find  their  interests 
so  watchfully  protected,  and  their  liberties  defended 
with  such  ability  and  so  many  counsels  of  wisdom. 
The  designs  of  ambitious  and  intriguing  men,  the 
artifices  of  demagogues,  the  usurpations  of  power, 
the  corrupting  influence  of  high  places,  and  the 
punishment  of  political  delusion,  all  find  their  pro- 
totype and  antidote  in  the  principles,  prophecies, 
biography,  and  history  of  the  Bible.  Where  may 
a  people  learn  a  more  aflfecting  lesson,  than  in  the 
succession  of  weak  and  wicked  princes,  from  the 
death  of  Josiah  to  the  destruction  of  the  city  and 
temple,  and  the  capture  of  Zedekiah,  by  Nebu- 
chadnezzar ?  Read  the  history  of  the  subtle  and 
traitorous  Absalom.  Bold,  valiant,  and  revenge- 
ful 5  haughty,  eloquent  and  popular,  he  "  stole  the 
hearts  of  the  people ;"  expelled  his  venerable  fa- 
ther from  Jerusalem  \  and  having  conciliated  the 
affections  of  a  misguided  and  deceived  populace, 
became  after  a  short  period  as  much  the  object 
of  their  contempt,  as  he  was   before   the  object 

11 


122  CIVIL    LIBERTY. 

of  their  veneration.  Were  such  a  monument  as 
Absolam's  pillar  of  stones  erected  over  the  body 
of  every  demagogue  at  the  present  day,  it  might 
be  a  wholesome  comment  upon  the  influence  the 
Bible  exerts  upon  the  principles  of  civil  liberty. 
Read  too  the  history  of  Jeroboam  the  son  of 
Nebat ;  a  base  idolater,  the  descendant  of  a  slave, 
a  turbulent,  ambitious  prince,  a  fugitive  from  pub- 
lic justice,  corrupt  and  intriguing,  raised  to  su- 
preme power  by  an  unprincipled  majority,  cor- 
rupting and  destroying  the  people,  drying  up 
the  sources  of  national  wealth,  entailing  poverty 
and  abjectness  upon  the  ten  tribes  to  the  latest 
generation,  and  drawing  down  upon  them  the 
wrath  of  heaven  for  twenty  successive  reigns, 
and  more  than  two  centuries  after  his  death! 
Contrast  also  the  reign  of  Solomon  with  the  reign 
of  Jeroboam ;  the  reign  of  Asa  with  the  reign  of 
Ahab  j  the  reign  of  Jehoash  with  the  reign  of  Je- 
hoahaz  5  and  you  will  form  a  just  estimate  of  good 
rulers,  and  see  what  a  fearful  scourge  wicked  ru- 
lers are  to  their  subjects.  The  God  of  the  Bible 
is  the  king  of  nations.  The  Lord  is  with  them 
while  they  are  with  him.  Creation  and  provi- 
dence are  under  his  controul.  With  all  their  in- 
fluences, all  their  power,  all  their  glory,  they  are 
under  him  as  the  Prince  of  its  princes,  the  Lord  of 
its  lords,  and  all  subservient  to  his  designs.  A 
heathen  prince  was  once  constrained  to  say,  that 
"  his  dominion  is  an  everlasting  dominion,  and  his 
kingdom  is  from  generation  to  generation."     His 


CIVIL    LIBERTY.  123 

service  is  freedom  5  alienation  from  his  empire  is 
the  veriest  bondage. 

The  land  we  live  in  is  a  Christian  land.  The 
Bible  is  here  recognized  as  true ;  and  in  our  own 
State,  has  been  solemnly  decided  as  constituting 
a  part  of  the  common  law.  We  shall  be  a  free 
people,  only  as  we  remain  a  Christian  people.  If 
a  low  and  degraded  infidelity  should  ever  succeed 
in  its  already  begun  enterprise  of  sending  up  from 
the  whole  face  of  this  land  her  poisonous  exhala- 
tions, and  the  youth  of  our  country  become  re- 
gardless of  the  God  of  their  fathers  j  men  in  other 
lands  who  have  been  watching  for  our  downfall, 
will  in  a  few  short  years  enrole  us  on  the  catalogue 
of  enslaved  nations.  You  will  have  a  part  to  act 
on  this  great  theatre,  my  young  friends,  when 
older  heads  shall  sleep  beneath  the  clods  of  the 
valley.  Act  it  like  Christian  men.  Love  your 
country,  and  for  your  country's  sake.  Hold  those 
in  detestation  who  disturb  her  peace,  and  tamper 
with  the  minds  of  the  young  for  the  purposes  of 
office  and  gain.  It  will  be  in  vain  that  infidel  poli- 
ticians plot  the  ruin  of  this  fair  land,  if  her  young 
men  remain  firm  to  the  interests  of  moral  virtue 
and  the  Bible.  Would  that  my  voice  could  reach 
the  ear  of  every  young  man  in  the  land,  and  an- 
nounce to  him,  how  much  his  country  expects 
from  every  intelligent  friend  of  the  Bible.  There 
is  no  want  of  effort  to  corrupt  and  demoralize  the 
young  men  of  this  nation  5  and  when  once  this  is 
done,  they  in  their  turn  will  become  the  corrupters 


124  CIVIL    LIBERTY. 

and  demoralizers  of  others,  until  the  nation  be- 
comes ripened  for  ruin.  The  Bible  is  your  pro- 
tection. There  is  a  natural  propensity  in  the 
human  mind  to  lawless  indulgence,  and  to  hostility 
to  all  those  systems  of  human  government  that  are 
based  on  the  word  of  God.  Beware  of  being  car- 
ried down  this  fatal  current.  There  is  nothing 
that  may  be  so  safely  trusted  in  the  formation  of 
your  political  sentiments  and  influence,  as  the 
Bible.  I  have  never  known  a  great  political  strug- 
gle in  a  Christian  land  which  was  not  a  great 
moral  struggle,  and  would  not  have  been  decided 
in  an  hour  by  the  appropriate  influence  of  the 
Bible.  Here  is  the  danger  of  this  Republic.  So 
long  as  the  Bible  remains  our  glory  and  happi- 
ness, our  liberties  will  remain ;  but  beyond  this, 
there  is  nothing  to  forbid  the  fear,  that  we  shall 
gradually  become  an  enslaved  nation. 

But  I  must  close,  with  a  single  thought  more. 
"  If  the  Son  make  you  free,  ye  shall  be  free  in- 
deed." Seriously  considered,  other  liberty  is  an 
imaginary  theory — an  illusion — a  name — a  sound. 
You  may  chant  its  praises  and  celebrate  its  con- 
quests, and  yet  be  slaves.  You  may  deify  it,  and 
erect  to  it  monuments,  and  build  its  altars,  and 
pour  upon  them  costly  libations,  and  yet  be  the 
slaves  of  sin.  But  there  is  a  liberty  that  is  worth 
the  name.  It  is  that  intellectual  and  moral  condi- 
tion of  the  soul  which  constitutes  her  highest  ex- 
cellence and  glory.  It  is  that  spiritual  liberty — 
that  Christian  freedom — that  liberty  of  mind,  and 


CIVIL    LIBERTY.  125 

conscience,  and  heart,  which  through  divine  grace 
the  soul  enjoys,  when  she  breaks  the  bonds  of  her 
iniquity  and  possesses  the  hberty  of  the  children 
of  God.  It  is  to  be  no  longer  the  servant  of  sin; 
no  longer  the  slave  of  passion  *,  no  longer  in 
bondage  to  vanity,  pride,  self  and  the  world ;  but 
to  be  the  loyal  and  happy  subject  of  the  divine 
government,  the  renovated  citizen  of  the  common- 
wealth of  Israel,  and  the  servant  of  that  Divine 
Master,  whose  every  requisition  is  a  benefit,  whose 
every  command  is  a  promise,  and  to  whose  service 
every  sacrifice  becomes  a  favour,  every  act  of 
self-denial  a  blessing.  Such  a  man  is  free — free 
every  where  j  free  in  solitude — free  in  the  midst 
of  the  world — free  in  his  abundance — free  in  his 
poverty — free  in  life — free  in  death — always  free — 
"  free  forever,  because  he  is  forever  with  God." 

11* 


LECTURE  V. 


THE    SCRIPTURES    THE    FOUNDATION    OF    RELIGIOUS 
LIBERTY    AND    THE    RIGHTS    OF    CONSCIENCE. 


Having  at  our  last  opportunity  expressed  a  few 
thoughts  in  relation  to  the  influence  of  the  Bible 
upon  civil  liberty  and  human  governments,  I  pro- 
pose to  devote  the  present  lecture  to  a  considera- 
tion of  the  influence  it  exerts  upon  religious  liberty 
and  the  rights  of  conscience.  The  subject  is  one 
of  no  common  magnitude.  Who,  had  he  no  other 
alternative,  would  not  cheerfully  consent  to  be- 
come the  vassal  of  the  most  despotic  government 
on  the  earth,  where  the  rights  of  conscience  were 
respected,  than  the  citizen  of  the  freest  republic, 
where  these  rights  are  denied  ?  Of  all  human 
rights,  the  rights  of  conscience  are  the  most  sacred 
and  inviolate.  Civil  liberty  relates  to  things  seen 
and  temporal,  religious  hberty  to  things  unseen 
and  eternal  5  civil  hberty  relates  to  the  body,  reli- 
gious liberty  to  the  soul;  and  which  may  be  the 


RELIGIOUS  LIBERTY,   ETC.  127 

more  readily  dispensed  with,  no  honest  and  virtu- 
ous mind  can  be  long  in  deciding. 

By  religious  liberty,  I  mean  the  right  of  every 
man  to  adopt  and  enjoy  whatever  opinions  he 
chooses  on  religious  subjects,  and  to  worship  the 
Supreme  Being  according  to  the  dictates  of  his 
own  conscience,  without  any  obstruction  from  the 
law  of  the  land.  Religious  toleration  is  the 
allowance  of  religious  opinions  and  modes  of 
worship,  when  different  from  those  established  by 
law.  Religious  liberty  disclaims  all  right  of  law 
to  control  men  in  their  opinions  and  worship.  Re- 
ligious toleration  implies  the  existence  and  the 
modified  exercise  of  power  in  such  control  5  reli- 
gious liberty  implies  that  no  such  power  exists, 
and  none  such  is  assumed.  The  most  perfect  re- 
hgious  liberty  exists  in  that  community,  where  there 
is  no  such  thing  as  toleration,  because  there  is  no 
need  of  it.  None  desires,  or  can  conceive  of  a 
greater  degree  of  religious  liberty  than  that  which 
exists  under  a  government,  where  one  man,  and 
one  religious  denomination,  has  as  good  a  right  as 
another,  to  the  free  and  unobstructed  enjoyment 
of  its  creed  and  worship. 

If  we  mistake  not,  this  greatest  and  most  in- 
alienable of  all  human  rights  is  one  of  the  last  that 
has  been  respected  by  civil  governments,  and  has 
found  a  refuge  only  in  the  well-defined  principles 
and  mild  auspices  of  the  Christian  dispensation. 
On  how  many  a  page  of  pagan  history,  do  you 
find   the    melancholy  fact  recorded   of  men  who 


128  RELIGIOUS    LIBERTY    AND 

were  condemned  to  the  hemlock  and  the  flames, 
because  they  would  not  worship  at  the  shrine  of 
idol  gods  ?  The  decree  of  the  proud  Nebuchad- 
nezzar, that  "  whosoever  falleth  not  down  and 
worshippeth  the  golden  image  that  he  had  set  up, 
should  be  cast  into  the  midst  of  a  burning  fiery 
furnace,"  was  an  ancient  and  very  common  mode 
of  punishment  among  the  oriental  nations,  inflict- 
ed on  those  who  would  not  worship  their  idols. 
Mountains  of  flame  have  ascended  to  heaven,  and 
rivers  of  blood  have  been  poured  upon  the  earth, 
as  offerings  on  the  altar  of  a  malignant,  or  mis- 
guided intolerance.  From  the  time  that  Antio- 
chus  laid  waste  the  Holy  Land,  and  depopulated 
the  city  of  Jerusalem,  to  the  destruction  of  the 
infants  of  Bethlehem  by  Herod  5  from  the  resur- 
rection of  the  Saviour,  to  the  destruction  of 
Jerusalem  by  Titus ;  from  the  destruction  of  Jeru- 
salem, to  the  accession  of  Contantine  to  the  throne 
of  the  Roman  empire  5  the  prediction  has  been 
most  fearfully  fulfilled,  "There  was  war  in  hea- 
ven :  Michael  and  his  angels  fought,  and  the  dragon 
fought,  and  his  angels." 

The  limits  of  a  single  lecture  do  not  allow  me 
to  speak  at  length  of  the  spirit  of  intolerance, 
which  has  in  various  ages  of  the  world  been  the 
fruitful  source  of  so  much  misery  and  crime.  Not 
volumes  merely,  but  Hbraries  have  been  written 
without  exhausting  the  mournful  theme.  Jews,  Ma- 
hometans, Christians  and  pagans  have  all,  though 
not  always  with   the  same   ardour   and   phrensy, 


THE    RIGHTS    OF    CONSCIENCE.  129 

been  to  a  greater  or  less  degree,  involved  in  this 
miserable  warfare. 

Intolerance  toward  the  Christian  faith  was  early 
expressed  by  the  Jews,  at  the  very  birth  of  Chris- 
tianity. As  a  nation,  they  were  distinguished  for 
their  spiritual  pride  and  bigotry,  and  regarded 
other  nations  with  a  haughty  superciliousness, 
which  easily  matured  to  malignity  and  persecu- 
tion. Though  at  the  time  when  our  blessed  Lord 
appeared  in  the  flesh,  Judaism  was  in  the  last 
stages  of  decay  5  though  it  had  the  form  of  godli- 
ness, and  was  destitute  of  its  power,  and  had  in- 
deed become  a  sort  of  practical  infidelity  j  it  sum- 
moned and  collected  all  its  remaining  vigour  to 
oppose  the  gospel  of  the  Son  of  God.  Though  it 
was  split  up  into  a  great  variety  of  sects  and  par- 
ties; yet  fearful  of  the  influence  of  Christianity, 
jealous  of  its  power,  trembling  for  their  own  pre- 
rogative, the  Jewish  priests  and  rulers  lost  no  op- 
portunity of  indulging  themselves,  not  only  in  the 
extremes  of  contumely  and  abuse  against  the 
Christians,  but  did  not  hesitate  to  persecute  them 
to  the  death.  The  Pharisees  were  formalists ;  the 
Saducees  were  infidels  5  the  Essenes  were  enthu- 
siasts and  mystics — deeply  imbued  with  the  Phi- 
losophy of  the  Platonic  School,  and  regarding  even 
their  own  law  as  a  mere  allegorical  system  of  mys- 
terious truths.  But  like  Herod  and  Pontius  Pilate, 
afl  these  jarring  sects  forgot  their  mutual  and 
minor  alienations  in  their  absorbing  enmity  to  the 
gospel  of  Christ.     Many  of  them  indeed,  like  the 


130  RELIGIOUS    LIBERTY    AND 

early  disciples,  and  Saul  of  Tarsus,  and  others  on 
the  day  of  Pentecost,  saw  the  insufficiency  of  their 
own  religion,  felt  the  need  of  a  surer  guide,  and 
became  the  followers  of  Christ  5  but  the  mass  of 
the  nation  were  violent  and  uncompromising  in 
their  hostility  to  the  Christian  faith.  They  pursu- 
ed the  infant  Saviour  from  his  cradle  to  Egypt, 
from  Egypt  to  Nazareth,  and  from  Nazareth  to 
the  cross.  After  having  satiated  their  malignity 
upon  him,  they  directed  it  in  all  its  infuriate  mad- 
ness against  his  disciples.  Stephen,  James  the 
son  of  Zebedee,  and  James  the  just,  who  presided 
over  the  Church  at  Jerusalem,  were  among  the 
early  victims  of  their  rage.  Sometimes  their  vio- 
lence was  expressed  in  threatening ;  sometimes  in 
rash  and  headlong  counsels  5  sometimes  in  the  im- 
prisonment of  the  Christians  5  and  sometimes  in 
stripes  and  death.  Nor  were  their  persecutions 
limited  to  Palestine.  Wherever  they  were  scat- 
tered throughout  the  Roman  provinces,  they  be- 
came the  instigators  of  those  feuds  among  the 
populace,  and  that  violence  of  the  magistracy 
which  destroyed  so  many  of  the  harmless  followers 
of  Christ.*  The  early  Christians  had  no  more 
bitter  enemies  than  the  Jews.  From  the  highest 
seat  of  power  in  Jerusalem,  down  to  the  lowest 
publican  who  sat  at  the  receipt  of  custom,  the 
embodied  efforts  of  the  nation,  both  in  the  Holy 


*  Vide.     Mosheim's  Institutes  of  Ecclesiastical  History. 


THE    RIGHTS    OF   CONSCIENCE.  131 

land  and  out  of  it,  were  enlisted  against  Christi- 
anity. There  was  this  semblance  of  apology  for 
the  Jews.  The  God  of  Abraham  had  called  them 
out  from  among  the  nations  with  the  view  of  dis- 
sociating them  from  all  the  varieties  and  forms  of 
pagan  idolatry,  and  until  the  coming  of  the  Mes- 
siah, of  preserving  among  them  the  only  remnant 
of  the  true  religion  on  the  earth.  They  were  early 
taught  by  God  himself  to  regard  all  other  nations 
with  suspicion  5  to  have  no  intercourse  with  them  5 
and  to  prohibit  their  residence  among  them  until 
they  had  first  renounced  their  paganism,  and  be- 
come proselytes  to  the  faith  and  worship  of  the 
true  God.  It  is  a  lame  apology ;  but  like  one  of 
their  own  misguided  countrymen,  they  often  "  did  it 
ignorantly  and  in  unbelief."  They  were  strongly 
attached  to  their  own  national,  religious  peculiari- 
ties 5  and  yet  nothing  could  be  more  contrary  to 
the  genius  of  their  own  religion,  than  the  pride, 
envy  and  malignity,  with  which  they  arrayed  those 
peculiarities  against  Christianity.  Nothing  could 
be  more  contrary  to  the  light  of  their  own  symbols, 
prophecies,  and  law.  Nothing  could  be  more 
contrary  to  the  overwhelming  testimony  that  Jesus 
was  the  Son  of  God.  And  yet  they  have  ever 
been  an  intolerant'  people,  and  have  extended  their 
intolerance  not  less  to  their  own  countrymen,  who 
renounced  the  Jewish  religion,  than  to  strangers. 
Wherever  they  have  been  in  power,  they  have 
always  been  an  intolerant  people.  When  Morde- 
cai  was  prime  minister  at  the  Persian  Court  under 


132  RELIGIOUS    LIBERTY    AND 

the  reign  of  Artaxerxes  Longimaims,  "  many  of 
the  people  of  the  land  became  Jews,  because  the 
fear  of  the  Jews  came  upon  them."  The  Jews 
had  authority  and  they  exercised  it  so  effectually, 
that  the  Persians  professed  Judaism  through  fear. 
We  know  too  what  an  iron  sceptre  their  rulers 
swayed,  and  under  what  a  reign  of  terror  the  na- 
tion groaned  in  subsequent  ages.  There  was  no 
such  thing  as  religious  liberty.  If  any  man  con- 
fessed Christ,  he  "  was  put  out  of  the  synagogue  j" 
he  was  pronounced  an  outlaw  5  his  property  was 
confiscated  5  he  was  denied  all  the  charities  of  life  5 
his  person  was  put  beyond  the  protection  of  the 
government  5  and  the  man  that  killed  him  was 
thought  to  have  done  God  service. 

If  from  the  Jews,  we  turn  to  the  Mahomedans, 
we  have  the  same  melancholy  picture.  Like  a 
furious  torrent,  the  religion  of  the  false  prophet 
laid  waste  Asia,  Africa,  and  a  great  part  of  Europe. 
It  was  introduced  at  a  period  of  the  world,  when 
the  corruptions  of  Christianity  and  the  divisions 
throughout  Christendom  invited  the  enterprise  of 
some  bold,  and  ardent  mind,  and  when  the  cus- 
toms and  passions  of  men,  and  the  circumstances 
of  the  times  were  easily  made  subservient  to  such 
a  design.  The  spirit  of  intolerance  also  which 
existed  among  the  Christians  proved  a  favourable 
event  for  the  advancement  of  Mahometanism. 
Justinian  had  previously  commenced  his  persecu- 
tions ;  he  had  destroyed  the  Samaritans  in  Pales- 
tine j  and  their  posterity  probably  embraced  the 


THE    RIGHTS    OF    CONSCIENCE.  133 

new  religion  out  of  hatred  to  the  Christians,  and 
in  consequence  of  the  severe  edicts  pubhshed 
against  them  by  the  Roman  Emperors.  Tlie  Ro- 
man and  Persian  monarchies  were  also  on  the  de- 
cline 5  and  Mahomet  had  discernment  enough  to 
turn  all  these  favourable  opportunities  to  his  own 
advantage.  It  is  scarcely  necessary  to  say,  that 
Mahomet  boldly  professed  to  convert  the  nations 
by  the  sword.  It  was  one  of  the  main  pillars  of 
his  system,  that  paradise  was  the  reward  of  extir- 
pating those  who  would  not  become  his  followers. 
It  was  his  maxim,  that  "  the  sword  is  the  key  of 
heaven  and  of  hell."  The  Jews  were  more  the 
objects  of  his  hatred  than  any  other  sect.  He 
utterly  destroyed  them  in  Arabia,  confiscated  their 
property,  and  subjected  them  to  tortures.  He 
would  not  condescend  to  allow  them  to  become 
his  followers,  and  gave  testimony  of  the  hatred  he 
bore  them  in  his  last  hours.  "  May  God  curse  the 
Jews,"  said  he,  "  for  they  have  made  Temples  of 
the  sepulchres  of  their  prophets !"  With  this  ex- 
ception, the  alternative  he  offered  to  his  enemies 
was,  to  acknowledge  the  true  God  and  his  prophet, 
tribute,  or  death.  And  with  this  alternative,  he 
subdued  a  great  part  of  the  world.  His  first  con- 
quests were  in  Arabia,  Persia  and  Syria.  Subse- 
quently his  successors  subdued  Egypt  and  Africa, 
from  the  Nile  to  the  Atlantic  Ocean.  After  the 
Saracens  became  Mahometans,  they  overran  and 
desolated  the  Roman  empire,  and  made  the  most 
fearful  devastation  of  the  Oriental  Churches.     Not 

12 


134  RELIGIOUS    LIBERTY    AND 

satisfied  with  these  conquests,  they  penetrated  into 
Spain  and  France  5  subsequently  attached  the 
Turks  to  their  standard,  became  masters  of  the 
fairest  portions  of  Europe,  and  planted  the  crescent 
on  the  walls  of  Constantinople.  The  mildest  fea- 
ture in  the  religion  of  Mahomet  was,  that  he  did 
not  deny  that  the  followers  of  any  religion  might 
be  saved,  if  their  actions  were  virtuous.  And  yet 
strange  to  say,  wherever  he  came  in  contact  with 
)/  men,  he  recognized  no  rights  of  conscience,  no 
degree  of  religious  liberty.  Wherever  his  followers 
went,  it  was  Ismalism,  tribute,  or  death.* 

The  pagan  world  too  has  fiercely  set  itself 
against  the  Lord  and  against  his  anointed.  With 
few  exceptions,  the  pagan  nations  cannot  be 
said  to  have  expressed  any  great  degree  of 
intolerance  toward  one  another.  They  have 
been  bitter  persecutors  of  the  religion  of  the 
Old  and  New  Testaments,  but  not  often  per- 
ecutors  of  paganism  itself.  Though  plunged  in 
the  grossest  superstition,  and  though  almost 
every  nation  had  its  own  peculiar  deities  j  this 
variety  of  gods  and  religions  was  rarely  the  source 
even  of  division  or  animosity.  Dr.  Mosheim  ob- 
serves, that  the  Egyptians  are  an  exception  to  this 
remark  5  while  at  the  same  time  he  confesses,  that 
"  the  Egyptian  wars,  waged  to  avenge  their  gods, 
cannot  properly  be  called  religious  wars,  not  being 


*  Vide.     Sale's  Koran — Picart's  Ceremonies,  and  Herbelot's 
Biblioth.  Orient. 


THE    RIGHTS    OF   CONSCIENCE.  135 

undertaken  either  to  propagate,  or  to  suppress  any 
one  form  of  religion."  The  Roman  empire,  in 
the  days  of  her  pagan  princes,  became  drunk 
with  the  blood  of  Christendom.  Before  the  close 
of  the  first  century,  the  power  of  the  gospel  was 
felt  throughout  that  vast  empire.  But  its  suc- 
cesses only  roused  the  dormant  hostility  of  its 
foes.  After  the  demolition  of  the  Jewish  State  by 
Vespasian,  a  series  of  persecutions  against  Chris- 
tianity was  commenced,  beginning  under  Nero,  in 
the  thirty-first  year  of  the  Christian  era,  and  ex- 
tending to  the  reign  of  Dioclesian,  including  about 
three  centuries  of  as  bitter  suffering  and  cruelty  as 
men  were  ever  called  to  endure.  The  Christian 
religion  was  deemed  a  "detestable  superstition," 
and  the  Christian  name  contemptible  to  a  proverb. 
Under  the  reign  of  Nero,  no  class  of  men  were 
considered  more  the  enemies  of  mankind  than  the 
Christians  5  and  notwithstanding  the  purity  and 
benevolence  of  their  character,  they  incurred  the 
hatred  of  the  pagan  world,  were  obnoxious  to  its 
fury,  torn  by  wild  beasts,  consumed  by  fire,  and  in 
such  multitudes  that  the  streets  of  Rome,  night 
after  night,  were  illuminated  by  the  fearful  confla- 
grations. In  the  latter  part  of  the  reign  of  Domi- 
tian,  who  succeeded  to  the  empire  in  the  year 
eighty-one,  all  the  horrors  of  Nero's  persecution 
were  renewed.  Under  Trajan,  the  persevering 
profession  of  Christianity  was  by  law  a  capital 
offence.  It  was  by  his  order,  that  Ignatius  the 
bishop  of  Antioch  was  carried  a  prisoner  from  that 


136  RELIGIOUS    LIBERTY    AND 

city  to  Rome,  and  thrown  to  the  wild  beasts  in  the 
amphitheatre.  After  Trajan,  Marcus  Antoninus, 
though  a  prince  so  universally  popular  that  the 
gratitude  of  Rome  at  his  death  enrolled  him  among 
the  gods,  became  the  implacable  enemy  of  Chris- 
tianity, subjected  its  disciples  to  torture,  and  put  to 
death  whole  churches.  It  was  under  his  reign  that 
Justin  Martyr,  Polycarp,  the  martyrs  of  Lyons  and 
Vienne,  became  victims  of  the  ghastly  tortures  and 
bloody  animosity  of  the  pagans.  After  him,  tor- 
rents of  blood  were  shed  by  Severus,  in  Africa  and 
Egypt  5  and  many  a  Christian  female,  like  those 
noble  women  Felicitas  and  Perpetua,  was  stripped, 
scourged  and  thrown  to  the  wild  beasts,  exclaim- 
ing, as  the  latter  did  to  her  weeping  friends,  "  Con- 
tinue firm  in  the  faith,  love  one  another,  and  be  not 
offended  at  our  sufferings  !"  After  him,  the  spirit 
of  persecution  broke  out  in  all  its  horrors  under 
Decius,  whose  cruel  and  terrible  edicts  were  exe- 
cuted with  a  variety  and  intenseness  of  newly  in- 
vented suffering.  The  successor  of  Decius  was 
Gallus,  whose  short  reign  was  distinguished  by  such 
severity  of  persecutions  and  such  a  collection  of 
human  miseries,  that  Cyprian,  the  bishop  of  Car- 
thage, himself  a  martyr  to  the  Christian  faith, 
thought  that  the  reign  of  Antichrist  was  come,  and 
the  final  judgment  near  at  hand.  During  the  early 
part  of  the  reign  of  Valerian,  the  church  found  in 
him  a  friend  and  protector  5  but  after  a  short  truce 
of  three  years,  as  one  of  the  most  memorable  in- 
stances of  the  instability  of  the  human  character, 


THE    RIGHTS    OF    CONSCIENCE.  137 

he  commenced  a  deadly  persecution.  After  Vale- 
rian, a  general  persecution,  instigated  by  the  pagan 
priests,  broke  out  under  the  reign  of  Dioclesian, 
who  demohshed  the  temples  of  the  Christians, 
burned  their  sacred  books,  deprived  them  of  all  civil 
rights  and  honours,  and  consigned  them  to  torture 
and  flames.  This  persecution  raged  against  all 
sorts  of  men  who  bore  the  Christian  name  5  and 
with  the  exception  of  France,  pervaded  the  whole 
Roman  world.  As  evidence  of  the  severity  of  this 
persecution,  a  coin  was  struck  under  the  reign  of 
this  detestable  persecutor,  with  this  inscription, 
"Nomine  Christianorum  deleto" — The  Christian 
name  extinguished.*  Thus  was  this  vast  pagan 
empire,  this  colossal  power,  extending  itself  from 
the  straits  of  Gibraltar  to  the  Caspian  sea,  cover- 
ing all  Europe,  and  having  its  territories  even  in 
Africa  and  the  south  of  Britain,  combined  almost 
as  with  the  counsels  and  heart  of  one  man,  against 
^he  gospel  of  Christ.  All  ranks  and  conditions  of 
men  seemed  bent  on  its  destruction — -emperors 
trembling  for  their  crowns,  priests  for  their  gold, 
philosophers  for  their  systems,  and  the  common 
people,  the  more  terrible  for  their  ignorance  and 
superstitions.  It  was  indeed  a  dark  day  to  the 
church.  One  universal,  cry  of  persecution  and 
death  might  have  been  heard  from  Jerusalem  to 
Ephesus,  from  Ephesus  to  Rome,  from  Rome  to 
the  provinces  of  Gaul. 


*  Vide  Mosheim,  Milnor  and  Lardner,  •  • ' 

12* 


138  RELIGIOUS    LIBERTY    AND 

It  were  devoutly  to  be  wished  that  we  could  say 
with  truth,  that  the  Christian  Church  were  herself 
pure  from  the  spirit  of  intolerance,  and  the  blood 
of  persecution.  It  is  a  most  melancholy  retrospect 
to  look  back  upon  the  slow  progress  of  religious 
liberty,  even  in  the  visible  Church  of  God.  The 
world  has  no  where  seen  greater  evidences  of  the 
imperfection  of  men,  of  the  bhndness  of  the  hu- 
man heart,  of  the  dangers  of  an  excited  state  of 
mind  in  religious  controversies,  and  of  the  influ- 
ence of  the  spirit  of  the  age  and  times  in  which 
men  live,  than  in  the  tardy  growth  of  reHgious 
liberty  even  under  the  light  of  Christian  truth.  It 
is  indeed  a  melancholy  retrospect  to  look  back 
upon  the  very  slow  progress  of  religious  toleration 
in  our  world.  The  principles  of  religious  liberty 
seem  to  have  been  understood  by  few  of  any  reli- 
gious denomination,  until  a  very  late  period.  The 
human  mind  seems  to  have  been  enveloped  in  an 
unaccountable  hallucination  on  this  plain  subject ; 
and  ages  and  men,  otherwise  distinguished  for 
discretion,  for  piety,  and  even  for  moral  gran- 
deur, have  been  scarcely  less  distinguished  for  an 
intolerance  and  bigotry  utterly  at  war  with  the 
spirit  of  Christianity,  and  a  lasting  reproach  to  the 
Christian  name.  Not  a  little  watchfulness  is  ne- 
cessary, even  on  the  part  of  the  best  of  men,  be- 
fore they  will  cultivate  a  kind  spirit  toward  those 
who  dissent  from  them  on  subjects  so  important 
as  the  various  topics  of  their  religious  faith.  No 
man,  and  no  set  of  men,  know  what  they  will  do, 


THE    RIGHTT    OF    CONSCIENCE.  139 

till  they  have  power.  The  pride  of  power,  and 
power  too  over  the  conscience — a  pride  which, 
while  it  seems  to  be  associated  with  the  love  of 
the  truth,  is  at  heart  associated  with  that  subtle 
self-complacency  which  says,  "  Stand  by  thyself  for 
I  am  holier  than  thou  5"  a  pride  which,  while  it 
conceals  its  true  motives  under  the  pretence  of 
contending  earnestly  for  the  faith^  cannot  sup- 
press the  ostentatious  claim  of  Jehu,  "  Come  see 
my  zeal  for  the  Lord," — this  is  the  height,  the  gid- 
dy height  from  which  intolerance  and  persecution 
have  in  every  age  pronounced  the  doom  of  the 
humble  followers  of  the  crucified  Saviour.  Differ- 
ent departments  of  the  visible  Church  have  differed 
widely  in  their  views  and  conduct  in  relation  to 
this  subject.  The  Romish  Church  ever  has  been 
the  great  enemy  of  religious  liberty.  Witness  her 
assumption  of  the  civil  power,  when  princes  bowed 
at  her  feet,  and  received  their  crowns  at  her 
hands;  when  nations  trembled  before  her,  and 
were  anathematized  at  her  pleasure.  Witness  her 
slaying  of  the  witnesses  for  the  truth  throughout 
Germany,  France  and  Britain.  Witness  her  per- 
secutions in  the  valleys  of  Piedmont  and  the  rocky 
Alps.  Witness  the  decisions  of  her  councils,  the 
developement  of  her  secret  plots  and  conspiracies, 
her  open  invasions  and  blood.  Witness  the  histo- 
ry of  that  dark  and  sanguinary  tribunal,  the  In- 
quisition. Think  of  the  blood  which  deluged  Bo- 
hemia for  thirty  years.  Think  of  the  massacre  in 
the  reign  of  Charles  IX.   of  France,  when   that 


140  RELIGIOUS   LIBERTY    AND 

heartless  prince  boasted  of  having  slaughtered 
three  hundred  thousand  protestants.  Advert  too, 
to  the  intolerance  of  Louis  XIV.  and  of  Queen 
Mary  of  England,  when  the  prediction  was  so 
memorably  verified,  that  "  It  was  given  to  the 
beast  to  make  war  with  the  saints  and  to  overcome 
them."  Nor  has  she  reformed  in  principle  from 
that  hour  to  the  present  5  but  is  still  the  same  un- 
changing enemy  to  religious  liberty,  and  the  rights 
of  conscience,  as  the  actual  influence  of  her  doc- 
trines, her  precepts,  and  her  practices  every  where 
evinces.  It  was  foretold  that  antichrist  should 
"wear  down  the  saints  of  the  most  High,"  and 
that  the  "  scarlet-coloured  beast  should  be  drunk- 
en with  the  blood  of  the  saints."  And  these  pre- 
dictions have  been  mournfully  fulfilled  in  the  op- 
pression, cruelty  and  intolerance  which  have  ever 
distinguished  the  Church  of  Rome.  Intolerance 
is  the  natural  and  genuine  effect  of  her  whole  sys- 
tem. "  Toleration,"  says  Bossuet,  who  was  far 
from  being  a  violent  Romanist,  "  toleration  is  not 
a  mark  of  the  true  Church."*  Uniformly  has  the 
"  Son  of  perdition"  maintained  the  right  to  perse- 
cute even  unto  death,  every  deviation  from  his 
creed,  and  every  secession  from  his  family.  By 
the  solemn  decisions  of  his  councils,  still  unre- 
voked, heresy  and  schism  are  "mortal  sins." 

But  while  we  say  that  the  Romish  Church  has 


*  Bossuet's  History  of  the  Variations  of  Protestants. 


THE    RIGHTS    OF    CONSCIENCE.  141 

been,  and  still  is,  the  great  enemy,  with  ingenuous 
shame  must  we  confess  that  the  Protestant  Church 
has  not  always  been  the  friend  of  religious  free- 
dom. It  was  no  doubt  more  the  fault  of  the  age, 
than  of  the  man,  that  Calvin  instigated  the  con- 
demnation of  Servetus.  But  what  a  comment 
upon  the  spirit  of  the  age !  The  law  which  con- 
demned heretics  to  the  flames,  was  retained  by  the 
Protestant  Churches  of  England  during  one  hun- 
dred and  thirty  years.  And  long  after  P^rotestant- 
ism  was  finally  established  at  the  revolution  in 
Scotland,  it  framed  the  solemn  League  and  Cove- 
nant for  the  extirpation  of  prelacy  by  the  sword. 
There  is  no  more  humbling  view  than  that  which 
is  presented  by  this  single  feature  in  the  history  of 
the  Church.  At  one  moment  she  is  the  persecuted 
of  her  pagan  neighbours  j  at  the  next,  the  perse- 
cutor of  some  of  her  own  family.  Scarcely  has 
she  rest  from  her  external  foes,  and  the  wounds 
are  staunched  that  were  opened  by  the  sword  of 
the  unbeHeving,  than  she  herself  turns  it  against 
her  own  children !  And  yet,  the  bitterness  of  this 
spirit  has  been  allayed  by  the  gospel.  The  vehe- 
mence of  this  fierce  orthodoxy  has  been  gradually 
subsiding,  and  its  unfeeling,  icy  rigour  melting 
away,  in  proportion  as  the  Sun  of  Righteousness 
has  been  gaining  a  gradual  ascendancy  over  the 
mind  5  and  as  the  Church  has  become  wiser  and 
better,  she  has  become  the  more  consistent  friend 
and  advocate  of  rehgious  liberty. 

The  principles  of  religious  liberty  are   clearly 


142  RELIGIOUS    LIBERTY    AND 

revealed  in  the  New  Testament.  And  what  are 
those  principles  ?  They  are  in  the  first  instance 
\fthat  the  Holy  Scriptures  are  the  onhj  source 
of  authority  in  matters  of  religion.  It  is  not 
remote  antiquity.  It  is  the  Bible.  It  is  not 
tradition.  It  is  the  Bible.  Tradition  is  an  in- 
definite, intangible  thing — found  any  where — 
found  no  where.  It  is  not  the  decision  of  coun- 
cils, nor  ecclesiastical  statutes.  It  is  the  Bible. 
"  The  word  is  nigh  thee,  in  thy  heart,  and  in  thy 
mouth." 

Another  of  these  principles  is,  that  the  Bible 
secures  to  every  man  the  undeniable  and  invio- 
lable right  of  private  judgment  in  all  matters  of 
religious  faith  and  duty.  This  was  the  doctrine 
of  the  Great  Reformation ;  this  is  the  doctrine  of 
the  New  Testament.  That  sacred  Book,  does  not 
more  clearly  reveal  the  obligations  to  faith  and 
obedience,  than  it  asserts  the  right  of  individual 
thought  and  opinion  founded  on  the  principle  of  in- 
dividual, personal  responsibility.  This  the  Church 
of  Rome  denies,  and  the  Scriptures  affirm.  On 
this  point,  they  have  been,  and  still  are  at  issue. 
On  this  point  also  the  Church  of  God  has,  from 
age  to  age,  been  at  issue  with  civil  governments, 
instigated  as  they  have  been  by  ecclesiastical 
establishments,  to  interpose  the  power  of  the  secu- 
lar arm  to  secure  uniformity  in  belief  and  modes 
of  worship.  But  what  is  more  evident  from  the 
New  Testament,  than  that  men  are,  in  this  respect, 
responsible  not  to  any  secular  tribunal,  but  to  God 


THE    RIGHTS    OF    CONSCIENCE.  143 

alone ;  that  the  Bible  is  the  only  infallible  standard, 
and  the  Author  of  the  Bible  the  only  Judge  ?  The 
Scriptures  commend  those,  who,  with  a  noble  in- 
dependance  of  thought  and  Berean  character, 
brought  even  the  instructions  of  inspired  apostles 
to  the  unerring  authority  of  God's  holy  word. 
They  invite  men  to  read  and  hear  for  themselves ; 
humbly  and  prayerfully  to  examine  every  religious 
subject,  and  employ  all  their  powers  in  investigat- 
ing the  truth  j  and  when  they  have  done  so, 
solemnly,  and  in  the  fear  of  God,  to  form  their 
own  opinions.  They  require  them  to  form,  not  a 
wrong  judgment,  but  a  right  one,  and  make  them 
responsible  to  the  Searcher  of  hearts  for  the  judg- 
ment they  form.  God  gives  them  light,  and  bids 
them  beware  how  they  pervert,  or  abuse  it,  or  call 
it  darkness.  Prejudice,  and  partiality,  and  hostility 
to  the  truth  he  allows  no  man  to  exercise.  None 
may  form  his  judgment  without  evidence,  nor  in 
opposition  to  evidence,  but  according  to  evidence  5 
and  if  he  fails  to  do  this,  he  must  answer  it  to  his 
Maker.  "To  his  own  Master  he  standeth,  or 
falleth."  For  this  high  prerogative  God  has  formed 
him,  and  given  him  a  supernatural  revelation,  and 
laid  the  solemn  injunction  upon  his  conscience, 
"  prove  all  things  j  hold  fast  that  which  is  good." 
The  Bible  gives  no  man,  or  set  of  men,  dominion 
over  human  faith.  The  apostles  themselves  ex- 
pressly disclaimed  this  authority.  The  maxim  of 
the  prophets  was,  "  to  the  law  and  the  testimony." 
The  direction  of  the  Saviour  stands  out  in  living 


144  RELIGIOUS    LIBERTY    AND 

characters  before  the  world,  "  call  no  man  master, 
for  one  is  your  master,  even  Christ."  There  is  no 
thought  enstamped  more  legibly  on  the  pages  of 
Holy  Writ  than  the  individual,  personal  responsi- 
bility of  every  subject  of  the  divine  government. 
"  If  thou  be  wise,  thou  shalt  be  wise  for  thyself  5 
but  if  thou  scornest,  thou  alone  shall  bear  it." 
"  Every  one  of  us  shall  give  an  account  of  himself 
unto  God."  "  Every  man  shall  be  judged  accord- 
ing to  his  works  5"  works  that  are  the  sole  exposi- 
tor of  his  character,  because  they  are  the  result 
of  affections  that  indicate  him  to  be  the  enemy,  or 
the  friend  of  righteousness,  as  they  have  grown  out 
of  his  views  of  divine  truth.  There  would  be  some 
semblance  of  reason  in  submitting  our  religious 
opinions  to  the  dictation  of  men,  if  they  could 
assume  our  responsibility  and  stand  in  our  place 
when  we  stand  in  the  judgment;  if  they  could 
suffer  in  our  stead  when  we  and  our  principles  are 
condemned  at  the  last  day.  I  know  men  may 
greatly  abuse  the  liberty  of  forming  their  own 
religious  opinions.  They  have  done  so  to  their 
souls  undoing.  I  know  too  that  one  of  the 
great  stratagems  of  the  deceiver  is  this  boasted 
liberty,  and  that  many  swerve  from  the  faith 
through  the  fear  of  not  thinking  for  themselves. 
But  much  as  this  artifice  of  the  destroyer  is  to  be 
detested,  better  had  the  right  of  private  judgment 
be  abused,  than  not  enjoyed.  There  is  no  right, 
without  its  corresponding  obligation.  The  man 
who  abuses  the  right  of  private  judgment  has  fear- 


THE    RIGHTS    OF    CONSCIENCE.  145 

ful  responsibilities.  Let  him  see  to  them.  It  is 
at  his  peril,  if  "  he  receives  not  the  love  of  the 
truth,  that  he  may  be  saved." 

Another  of  the  great  principles  of  religious  liberty 
as  disclosed  in  the  New  Testament  is,  that  reli- 
gion is  a  spiritual  system^  and  must  he  promoted 
hy  a  m,oral  and  spiritual  influence,  A  man's 
opinions  do  not  admit  of  coercion.  You  may 
coerce  his  professions,  but  not  his  judgment.  You 
may  compel  him  to  acknow^ledge  that  he  believes 
what  he  does  not  believe ;  you  may  make  him  a 
hypocrite  5  but  you  cannot  make  him  a  Christian. 
You  cannot  reach  his  understanding  by  pains  and 
penalties,  nor  by  any  means  of  this  sort  give  vigour 
to  his  conscience,  or  affect  his  heart.  You  may 
awaken  resistance  5  you  may  rouse  enmity  5  you 
may  give  hardihood  to  his  obduracy  and  make  him 
patient  in  suffering  5  but  you  cannot  change  his 
views,  nor  impart  holiness  of  heart,  or  life.  These 
are  produced  by  the  blessing  of  God  upon  his  own 
truth.  Men  have  a  part  to  act  in  securing  this 
result,  but  it  is  of  no  coercive  kind.  They  may 
reason,  expostulate,  persuade,  but  it  belongs  not  to 
men  to  compel.  The  field  of  argument  and  im- 
partial investigation  is  the  arena  where  the  truth 
has  ever  won  her  most  splendid  victories.  Christi- 
anity is  no  gainer,  but  has  been  uniformly  the  looser 
by  calling  in  the  aid  of  the  secular  arm.  There 
never  was  a  greater  error  than  in  supposing  that 
the  interests  of  truth  and  piety  were  thus  advanced. 
We  may  be  sincerely  desirous  to  deliver  men  from 

13 


146  RELIGIOUS    LIBERTY    AND 

their  intellectual  and  moral  aberrations;  we  may 
oppose  every  system  of  delusion  and  wickedness, 
and  endeavour  to  break  the  bondage  of  the  prince 
of  darkness ;  but  physical  force  is  not  the  way  to 
accomplish  this  benevolent  end.  If  you  would 
promote  error,  persecute  it.  If  you  would  establish 
false  religions  on  a  more  permanent  basis  than  they 
have  yet  occupied  5  if  you  would  enlist  the  sympa- 
thies of  men  in  favour  of  a  cause,  which  otherwise 
would  have  no  sympathy ;  persecute  it — send  its  ad- 
vocates to  the  stake  and  gibbet — persecute  it  to  the 
death.  "  Persecution  is  disgraceful  to  those  who 
inflict,  but  honourable  to  those  who  suffer  it.  It 
throws  around  them  the  charm  and  glory  of  a  rela- 
tionship to  the  apostles  and  prophets,  and  men  of 
whom  the  world  was  not  worthy."  Error  is  not 
worthy  of  such  an  honour.  I  would  not  persecute 
error.  I  would  not  persecute  at  all ;  but,  if  there 
must  be  persecution,  let  truth  have  the  honour  of 
being  the  victim.  There  is  a  God  in  heaven,  and  a 
conscience  in  the  bosoms  of  men  5  and  it  were 
infinitely  better  for  the  cause  of  righteousness  to 
suffer  wrong,  than  to  do  wrong.  "In  meekness 
instructing  those  who  oppose  themselves,  perad- 
venture  God  will  give  them  repentance,  to  the 
acknowledgement  of  the  truth," — this  is  the  way 
the  Scriptures  recommend  of  opposing  error,  des- 
troying false  religions,  and  turning  the  world  to  the 
service  and  worship  of  the  true  God. 

There  is  still  another  very  obvious  principle  of 
religious  liberty  disclosed  in  the  New  Testament  5 


THE    RIGHTS    OF    CONSCIENCE.  147 

and  that  is,  that  Civil  Government^  as  such,  has 
no  other  concern  with  religion  than  to  respect 
the  rights  of  conscience,  and  extend  to  men  of 
all  religious  names  and  denominations  its  im- 
partial protection.  This  is  all  that  the  true  reli- 
gion soHcits  of  the  secular  power.  This  is  not 
religious  toleration  merely,  but  religious  liberty. 
I  am  acquainted  with  no  writer  who  has  discussed 
this  single  point  with  so  much  ability,  as  the  cele- 
brated John  Locke.  He  contended  with  the 
monstrous  error,  to  which  we  have  already  refer- 
red, and  which  was  so  rife  during  the  reigns  of  the 
first  and  second  Charles,  and  even  through  the 
intervening  revolution  in  the  days  of  Cromwell, 
that  men  ought  to  be  coerced  by  pains  and  penal- 
ties inflicted  by  the  civil  power,  to  profess  a  de- 
finitely prescribed  form  of  religious  doctrines,  and 
to  conform  themselves  to  one  particular  formulary 
of  religious  worship.  His  object  was  to  draw  the 
lines  of  demarcation  between  the  Church  and  the 
State  5  to  distinguish  between  the  powers  of  civil 
government  and  the  powers  of  religion  5  and  to 
show  that  the  one  is  exclusively  concerned  in  pro- 
moting the  spiritual  and  eternal  interests  of  men, 
and  that  the  other  has  the  care  of  the  Common- 
wealth. The  province  of  the  civil  magistrate,  is  to 
secure  to  all  the  members  of  the  body  politic,  the 
just  enjoyment  of  life,  liberty,  reputation  and  pro- 
perty. This  is  the  whole  of  its  jurisdiction.  The 
care  of  souls  is  not  committed  to  the  civil  magis- 
trate j  any  more  than  to  other  men.    The  power 


148  RELIGIOUS    LIBERTY    AND 

of  the  civil  magistrate,  consisting  only  in  outward 
force,  is  of  such  a  kind  that  it  can  never  be  applied 
for  religious  purposes,  in  any  other  way  than  by 
the  impartial  execution  of  equal  laws  for  the  pro- 
tection of  religious  liberty.  The  Church  is  a 
different  society,  formed  for  different  objects,  and 
acting  within  altogether  a  different  jurisdiction. 
It  is  a  spiritual  community,  and  clothed  with  no 
temporal  power.  Its  objects  are  the  maintainance 
of  the  true  religion  and  the  true  worship  of  God 
in  the  world.  It  has  its  principles  and  laws,  and 
is  bound  by  the  authority  of  Jesus  Christ  as  its 
only  King  and  Head.  The  Church  has  no  more 
power  in  the  State,  than  the  State  has  in  the 
Church.  They  are  perfectly  distinct  organiza- 
tions, are  pursuing  different  objects,  and  exercise 
a  different  authority.  The  liberties  of  the  State 
are  nevier  in  greater  jeopardy  than  when  the 
Church  is  invested  with  civil  power  j  while  the 
liberties  of  religion  and  the  Church  are  sure  to  be 
endangered  by  giving  ecclesiastical  power  to  the 
State.  The  Church  never  acts  more  out  of  cha- 
racter, or  more  unworthy  of  her  high  calling,  than 
when  she  arrogates  to  herself  the  authority  of  civil 
government,  and  endeavours  by  fire,  or  sword,  or 
civil  disabilities  of  any  kind  to  coerce  men  to  re- 
ceive her  doctrines  and  worship.  "My  kingdom," 
says  the  Saviour,  "  is  not  of  this  world  5  if  my 
kingdom  were  of  this  world,  then  would  my  ser- 
vants fight."  The  Church  has  no  secular  organ- 
ization J  no  secular  head ;  no  secular  nature.    She 


THE    RIGHTS    OF   CONSCIENCE.  149 

may  not  oppose  force  to  force,  as  the  kingdoms  of 
this  world  do;  nor  may  she  exercise  the  force 
which  this  world  exercises  even  in  the  execution 
of  her  own  laws. 

Such  are  some  of  the  leading  principles  of  reli- 
gious liberty  as  contained  in  the  New  Testament. 
The  world  is  under  lasting  obligation  for  the  illus- 
tration and  defence  of  these  principles  to  the  inde- 
pendent churches  in  Great  Britain.  It  was  among 
them  that  the  immortal  Locke  became  so  deeply 
imbued  with  that  manly  liberality  of  sentiment 
which  distinguished  him  above  the  men  of  his  age. 
Lord  King,  himself  of  the  established  church,  in 
his  life  of  this  celebrated  philosopher,  has  the  lib- 
erality to  say,  "  By  the  independent  divines,  who 
were  his  instructors,  Locke  was  taught  those 
principles  of  religious  liberty  which  they  were  the 
first  to  disclose  to  the  world. — As  for  toleration,  or 
any  true  notion  of  rehgious  liberty,  or  any  general 
freedom  of  conscience,  we  owe  them  not  in  the 
least  degree  to  what  is  called  the  church  of  Eng- 
land. On  the  contrary,  we  owe  all  these  to  the 
independents  in  the  time  of  the  commonwealth,  and 
to  Locke,  their  most  illustrious  and  enlightened 
disciple."  Nor  let  us  withhold  the  honour  that  is 
due  to  the  personal  exertions  of  Cromwell  him- 
self There  never  was  a  firmer  friend  to  the  rights 
of  conscience  than  Ohver  Cromwell.  It  was  his 
interest  in  the  cause  of  protestantism  that  induced 
him,  on  his  assumption  of  the  protectorate  to  choose 
an  alliance  with  Louis  XIV.  rather  than  with  Spain 

13* 


150  RELIGIOUS    LIBERTY    AND 

and  Austria.  He  made  his  friendship  valuable  to 
France  and  Holland,  that  by  their  means  he  might 
exert  the  greater  influence  in  behalf  of  religious 
liberty  throughout  Europe.  Nor  was  his  policy 
unavailing.  He  well  nigh  controlled  the  court  of 
Versailles  during  the  early  part  of  the  reign  of 
Louis.  It  was  the  common  remark  in  Paris,  that 
Mazarin,  the  prime  minister  of  Louis,  "  had  less 
fear  of  the  devil,  than  of  Oliver  Cromwell."  The 
suffering  protestants  throughout  Europe,  and  even 
from  the  confines  of  Hungary  and  Transylvania 
looked  with  hope  toward  the  English  common- 
wealth. The  suffering  Vaudois,  under  the  duke  of 
Savoy,  long  and  gratefully  remembered  his  merciful 
and  princely  interpositions  in  their  behalf,  amid  the 
mouldering  ruins  of  their  depopulated  villages. 
Besides  appointing  a  fast,  and  a  general  collection 
throughout  England  for  these  confessors,  he  wrote 
to  the  duke  of  Savoy,  to  the  king  of  France,  to  the 
kings  of  Sweden  and  Denmark,  and  to  all  the  pro- 
testant  princes  in  Europe  with  the  view  of  arrest- 
ing these  fearful  persecutions.  Nor  "  was  any  part 
of  his  negociation  with  foreign  princes  more  ac- 
ceptable to  his  country  than  this."* 


*  For  a  full  account  of  this,  see  "  The  Protectorate  of  Oliver 
Cromwell,  and  the  State  of  Europe,  during  the  early  part  of  the 
reign  of  Louis  XIV.  illustrated  in  a  series  of  letters  between  Dr. 
John  Pell,  resident  ambassador  at  the  Swiss  Cantons,  Sir  Sam- 
uel Morland,  Sir  William  Lockhart,  Mr.  Secretary  Thurloe,  and 
other  distinguished  men  of  the  time,"  by  Robert  Vaughan,  D.  D. 
of  London  University. 


THE    RIGHTS    OF    CONSCIENCE.  151 

Nor  do  I  refer  to  these  declarations  with  the 
less  reluctance,  because  I  am  a  presbyterian.  It 
must  be  confessed  that  the  presbyterians  of  Britain 
were  as  tenacious  of  civil  power  as  the  episcopa- 
lians 5  nor  was  there  any  denomination  of  Chris- 
tians at  that  period,  except  the  independents,  who, 
as  a  religious  body,  recognized  to  their  full  extent, 
the  sacred  rights  of  conscience,  and  who  while  in 
power  accorded  to  others  the  rights  which  they 
advocated  for  themselves  under  oppression.  This 
praise  is  awarded  them  by  distinguished  historians, 
who  were  themselves  ministers  and  members  of  the 
established  church.*  And  it  is  in  no  small  degree 
to  the  influence  of  this  very  class  of  men,  that  the 
broad  principle  of  religious  liberty  holds  so  promi- 
nent a  place  in  the  constitution  of  the  American 
States.  Such  too  are  the  principles  distinctly  re- 
cognized in  the  Confession  of  Faith  and  Form  of 
Government  of  the  presbyterian  church  in  this 
land.  We  have  never,  in  this  respect  trodden  in 
the  steps  of  transatlantic  presbyterianism.  While 
we  give  an  honest  preference  to  our  own  doctrines 
and  discipline,  we  claim  no  infallibility  5  we  invest 
ourselves  with  no  jus  divinum^  and  cheerfully  ac- 
cede to  others  the  same  rights  and  immunities,  both 
civil  and  rehgiou's,  which  we  claim  for  ourselves. 
Our  excellent  Confession  of  Faith  explicitly  de- 
clares, "  God  alone  is  Lord  of  the  conscience,  and 


*  Grant's  History  of  the  English  Church  Sects ;  Introduction 
to  Col.  Hutchinson's  Memoirs  ;  Brodie's  British  Empire. 


152  RELIGIOUS    LIBERTY    AND 

hath  left  it  free  from  the  doctrines  and  command- 
ments of  men,  which  are  in  any  thing  contrary  to 
his  word,  or  beside  it,  in  matters  of  faith,  or  wor- 
ship. So  that  to  beheve  such  doctrines,  or  to  obey 
such  commandments  out  of  conscience,  is  to  betray 
true  hberty  of  conscience  j  and  the  requiring  of  an 
imphcit  faith  and  an  absolute  Wind  obedience,  is  to 
destroy  liberty  of  conscience  and  reason  also." 

But  it  will  probably  be  asked,  has  the  church  no 
power — no  authority  over  her  own  membei's  ?  Has 
she  no  discipline  ?  And  may  she  not  admonish,  re- 
buke, censure,  and  even  exclude  from  her  commu- 
nion those  who  reject  her  doctrines,  and  pay  no 
regard  to  her  worship  ?  She  has  all  this  authority, 
and  is  bound  meekly  and  firmly  to  exercise  it. 
She  is  not  a  voluntary  society,  associated  upon 
principles  of  human  invention,  but  a  society  divinely 
instituted  and  governed  by  the  laws  of  her  redeem- 
ing God  and  King.  It  is  indispensable  to  her 
prosperity,  that  she  be  governed  5  that  she  be  go- 
verned by  laws  well  defined  and  understood.  She 
must  have  rules  for  admitting,  controling,  and  dis- 
ciplining her  members.  And  her  discipline  ought 
to  be  accordant  with  the  high  and  sacred  ends  of 
her  divine  institution.  "  Ecclesiastical  laws,"  says 
Mr.  Locke,  "  are  to  be  enforced  by  exhortations, 
and  advice.  Where  these  fail,  there  remains  no- 
thing farther  to  be  done  but  that  such  stubborn 
and  obstinate  persons,  who  give  no  ground  to  hope 
for  their  reformation,  should  be  cast  out  and  sepa- 
rated from  the  society.    This  is  the  last  and  utmost 


THE    RIGHTS    OF    CONSCIENCE.  153 

force  of  ecclesiastical  authority."  No  man  should 
complain,  because  he  is  made  responsible  to  the 
church  with  which  he  has  voluntarily  united  him- 
self by  irrevocable  bonds.  Nor  should  he,  when 
he  denounces  her  doctrines  and  government,  think 
it  a  hardship  if  he  is  required  to  acknowledge  his 
offence,  or  withdraw  from  her  communion.  "  A 
man  that  is  an  heretic,  after  the  first  and  second 
admonition,  reject !"  "  If  thy  brother  shall  tress- 
pass against  thee,  go  and  tell  him  his  fault  between 
thee  and  him  alone.  If  he  shall  hear  thee,  thou 
hast  gained  thy  brother.  But  if  he  will  not  hear 
thee,  tell  it  unto  the  church ;  but  if  he  neglect  to 
hear  the  church,  let  him  be  unto  thee  as  an  hea- 
then man  and  a  publican !"  But  he  must  liear^ 
and  if  he  desires  it,  must  he  heard.  By  the 
laws  of  Christ,  the  most  erring  and  most  vile  of 
his  professed  followers  is  entitled  to  a  full  and  im- 
partial trial.  To  pronounce  sentence,  or  even  the 
mildest  judicial  admonition,  without  a  hearing,  is 
a  direct  violation  of  the  great  principles  of  religious 
liberty,  the  word  of  God,  and  the  everlasting  law 
of  rectitude.  A  church  can  suffer  no  greater 
calamity  than  the  loss  of  such  a  right.  But  it 
were  a  sad  perversion  of  the  truth  to  plead  the 
rights  of  conscience  for  the  neglect  of  wholesome 
discipline.  "  The  free  circulation  of  the  blood, 
and  the  proper  discharge  of  all  the  animal  func- 
tions, are  not  more  necessary  to  the  health  of  the 
body,  than  the  discipline  which  Christ  has  institu- 
ted, to  the  spiritual  health  and  prosperity  of  his 


154  RELIGIOUS    LIBERTY    AND 

body  the  church."  One  sickly  sheep  infects  the 
flock.  And  a  black  flock  would  the  church  indeed 
be,  if  she  were  embarrassed  and  frustrated  in  at- 
tempts to  reclaim,  or  exclude  those  who  are  unfit 
for  her  fellowship.  "  How  can  two  walk  together, 
except  they  be  agreed  ?"  Men  who  are  "  tossed 
to  and  fro  and  carried  about  with  every  wind  of 
doctrine,"  may  not,  because  they  cannot  have  any 
fellowship  with  that  truth  which  is  one  and  immu- 
table. I  have  given  you  evidence,  by  an  almost 
thirty  years  ministry  among  you,  that  I  am  not  in- 
sensible that  the  peace  of  the  church  is  broken,  her 
strength  divided,  and  her  vigor  impaired  by  foolish 
contentions :  but  contentions  for  substantial  truth 
are  not  foolish.  Men  may  "  wrap  up  their  decep- 
tions in  scriptural  phrases,  and  even  in  language 
which  is  consecrated  by  the  usage  of  the  Christian 
Church,  and   yet    be  apostles  of  error." 

There  are  two  extremes  in  the  exercise  of  a 
faithful  discipline  which  every  Christian  Church 
should  cautiously  avoid.  The  first  is,  that  it  is  a 
matter  of  indifference  what  religious  principles 
a  man  adopts^  and  what  form  of  worship  he 
prefers.  The  Bible  contains  essential  principles — 
principles  which  constitute  the  very  elements  and 
essence  of  the  gospel  5  which  must  be  believed  and 
loved  in  order  to  salvation  j  and  which  are  so  fun- 
damental, that  if  any  one  of  them  should  be  denied, 
the  denial  would,  in  its  legitimate  consequences, 
subvert  the  entire  method  of  salvation  through 
Jesus  Christ.     It  forms  no  part  of  that  religious 


4- 


THE    RIGHTS    OF   CONSCIENCE.  155 

liberty  that  is  founded  on  the  word  of  God,  that 
it  is  of  no  consequence  what  a  man  beheves.  No 
where  is  this  thought,  or  feeling  encouraged  in  the 
Scriptures,  but  every  where  discouraged,  frowned 
upon  and  denounced.  "Keep  specially  clear," 
says  a  forcible  writer . "  of  uncommon  pretenders 
to  charity.  Satan  will  mask  his  designs  as  long  as 
he  can,  and  so  will  all  his  ministers.  Believe  that 
God  is  love,  that  he  is  the  great  and  essential  charity. 
Be  satisfied  then  with  as  much  charity  as  he  has 
shown,  and  do  not  think  of  improving  upon  your 
Maker  by  entertaining  and  expressing  a  more 
charitable  opinion  of  sinners  than  himself" 

The  other  extreme  is  to  have  no  charity  at  all. 
There  are  things  spoken  of  in  the  Bible,  which 
are  neither  fundamental  to  the  gospel,  nor  essen- 
tial to  salvation,  and  about  which  good  men  may 
differ.  Men  may  be  ignorant  and  uninformed  in 
these  things,  and  yet  be  saved.  And  I  would  not 
dare  to  say,  that  they  may  not  misunderstand  and 
pervert  these  things,  and  yet  be  saved,  any  more 
than  I  would  dare  to  say  how  much  indwelHng  sin 
is  compatible  with  true  holiness  of  heart,  or  how 
much  remaining  unbeHef  is  consistent  with  saving 
faith.  The  least,  truth  perverted,  as  well  as  the 
least  remaining  sin  in  the  heart,  is  without  excuse  5 
while  neither  of  them  proves  that  the  bosom  in 
which  they  dwell  has  no  interest  in  the  Son  of 
God.  I  hold  it  one  of  the  great  duties  of  a  Chris- 
tian, to  judge  severely  of  himself  5  of  others,  cha- 


156  RELIGIOUS    LIBERTY    AND 

ritably.  "  Judge  not  that  ye  be  not  judged.  For 
with  what  judgment  ye  judge  ye  shall  be  judged ; 
and  with  what  measure  ye  meet,  it  shall  be  mea- 
sured to  you  again."  I  may  not  necessarily  break 
charity  with  men  as  Christians,  with  whom  I 
would  not  deem  it  expedient,  nor  for  edification  to 
be  united  in  the  same  ecclesiastical  connexions.  I 
would  hope  not  to  sympathise  with  their  errors  5 
but  I  would  charitably  impute  their  errors  to 
causes  which  may  exist  in  the  hearts  of  good 
men.  "  Humanum  est  errare."  I  may  err,  as  well 
as  they. 

"Hanc  veniam  petimusque  damusque  vicissim." 

The  flock  of  Christ  will  be  a  little  flock  indeed, 
even  after  it  is  all  gathered  in,  if  there  be  not 
many  sheep  that  are  not  of  our  own  fold.  The 
many  mansions  in  our  Father's  house  will  be  but 
sparsely  inhabited,  if  it  be  not  found  at  the  last 
day  that  God  our  Saviour  can  hold  fellowship  in 
the  Church  above,  with  not  a  few  with  whom  it  is 
not  for  edification  for  us  to  maintain  ecclesiastical 
connexions  in  the  Church  below.  The  charity 
that  "  rejoiceth  not  in  iniquity,  but  rejoiceth  in  the 
truth,"  also  "  beareth  all  things,  believeth  all  things, 
hopeth  all  things."  As  men  may  be  heretics,  and 
excluded  from  the  Church  without  being  dehvered 
over  to  the  secular  arm,  so  they  may  err  in  judg- 
ment without  being  heretics.  They  may  diflfer  in 
their   religious   opinions,  and   yet  be  Christians  5 


THE    RIGHTS    OF   CONSCIENCE.  157 

they  may  differ  without  animosity,  without  the 
fury  of  intolerance,  without  having  recourse  to 
courts  of  law,  and  without  disturbing  either  the 
public  peace,  or  the  charities  of  social  life. 

I  do  not  know  that  I  have  expressed  your  views, 
my  young  friends,  in  the  present  lecture.  For 
myself,  I  solicit  no  greater  liberty  of  conscience 
than  this,  and  I  will  not  be  satisfied  with  less.  It 
is  impossible  for  the  Church  to  flourish  either  in 
alliance  with  the  civil  power,  or  controlled  by  its 
authority,  except  so  far  forth  as  it  extends  an  im- 
partial protection  to  her  civil  rights.  Nor  is  it  less 
impossible  for  her  to  flourish  while  composed  of 
essentially  jarring  materials — of  the  mingled  iron 
and  clay — of  men  who  believe  and  profess,  and 
men  who  disbelieve,  and  deny,  and  ridicule  the  fun- 
damental doctrines  of  the  gospel. 

The  liberty  of  conscience  is  your  birthright. 
You  are  "  not  children  of  the  bondwoman,  but  of 
the  free."  There  is  nothing  in  the  Scriptures 
which  debars  you  from  full  inquiry  into  all  truth, 
or  which  demands  of  you  an  assent  to  its  doctrines 
without  an  examination  of  the  evidence  that  they 
come  from  God.  You  boast  of  this  liberty.  But 
it  is  this  which  renders  you  so  fearfully  responsible. 
It  is  this  which  gives  the  divine  government  such 
resistless  claims  upon  you,  if  you  turn  your  liberty 
into  licentiousness,  and  under  the  specious  pretence 
of  this  right,  become  sceptics,  or  deists,  or  the 
enemies  of  God  and  his  truth,  by  whatever  name 
they  may  be  called. 

14 


LECTURE  VI. 


THE    MORALITY    OF    THE   BIBLE. 


There  is  no  one  particular  in  which  the  Bible 
has  effected  a  greater  change  in  the  condition  of 
the  world,  than  its  outward  and  visible  morality. 
To  say  nothing  of  that  spiritual  character  upon 
which  the  Scriptures  every  where  insist,  there  is 
not  now,  nor  has  there  been  ever,  any  portion  of 
the  world  where  the  principles  of  revealed  religion 
have  been  received,  where  the  most  astonishing 
changes  have  not  been  produced  in  the  moral 
habits  of  society.  This  justice  must  be  done  to 
infidelity,  that  while  it  has  waged  war  upon  the 
truths  of  the  Bible,  it  has  commended  its  moral 
precepts ;  and  while  it  has  ridiculed  its  miracles 
and  prophecies,  it  has  ingenuously  acknowledged 
that  its  morality  is  altogether  more  pure  and  lofty 
than  that  which  philosophy  ever  taught.  And 
however  involuntarily,  or  incautiously  made,  such 
confessions  are  no  unmeaning  homage  rendered  to 


THE    MORALITY    OF    THE    BIBLE.  159 

the  truth  of  the  Sacred  Scriptures.  For,  if  dis- 
jointed, disfigured,  mutilated,  torn  from  its  founda- 
tions, and  deprived  of  all  its  natural  Hfe  and  vigor, 
as  it  has  been  by  the  great  mass  of  infidel  writers, 
the  morality  of  the  Bible  has  grandeur  and  excel- 
lence enough  to  extort  the  commendation  of  its 
enemies ;  what  must  it  be,  when  undisturbed  from 
its  foundations,  unsevered  from  its  proper  aliment, 
it  is  seen  and  recognized  in  its  true  power  and  ex- 
cellence ! 

Neither  pagan  philosophers,  nor  modern  infidels, 
nor  the  philosophical  world  in  Christian  lands  have 
been  without  their  moral  theories.  When  the 
Saviour  of  men  descended  from  heaven,  the  Gre- 
cian and  Oriental  philosophy  had  obtained  power- 
ful influence  over  the  thinking  part  of  mankind  j — 
the  former  prevailing  throughout  Greece  and 
Rome,  the  latter  throughout  Persia,  Syria,  Chal- 
dea,  and  Egypt.  "  The  Greeks  sought  after  wis- 
dom." And  yet  among  them  we  find  the  sect  of 
the  Epicureans,  who  believed  that  the  world  arose 
from  chance ;  that  the  god's  extended  no  care 
over  human  aflfairs  5  that  the  soul  was  mortal  5  that 
pleasure  was  the  chief  good  5  and  that  virtue  was 
to  be  prized  only  as  it  contributed  to  man's  enjoy- 
ment. The  academical  philosophy,  from  Plato 
down  to  the  period  when  the  academic  school 
was  transferred  to  Rome,  was  professedly  a  system 
of  doubt  and  scepticism.  Its  disciples  denied  the 
possibility  of  arriving  at  truth  and  certainty ;  held 
it  doubtful  whether  the  god's  existed,  or  did  not 


160  THE    MORALITY    OF    THE   BIBLE. 

exist  5  whether  the  soul  is  mortal  and  survives  the 
body  5  and  whether  virtue  is  preferable  to  vice,  or 
vice  to  virtue.  The  most  profound,  as  well  as  the 
most  ingenious  of  this  sect  yielded  to  the  notion, 
that  amid  the  endless  varieties  of  human  opinion, 
nothing  could  be  decided.  This  evil  was  so  deeply 
felt  by  Socrates,  that  he  deemed  it  necessary  that 
an  instructor  should  be  sent  from  heaven  with 
special  authority  to  reveal  and  enforce  the  duty  of 
man.  The  Stoics  held  that  man  was  bound  to  act 
according  to  his  nature  5  that  nature  impels  him  to 
pursue  whatever  appears  to  be  a  goodj  that  the 
great  object  of  pursuit  is  not  pleasure,  but  confor- 
mity to  nature,  and  that  this  is  the  origin  of  all 
moral  obligation.  The  oriental  philosophy  re- 
garded matter  as  eternal,  and  as  the  source  and 
origin  of  all  evil  and  vice  5  and  that  the  material 
creation  in  its  present  form,  and  the  race  of  man, 
derive  their  origin  not  from  the  supreme  God,  but 
from  some  inferior  being.  The  Persians  asserted 
the  existence  of  two  eternal  principles,  the  one 
presiding  over  light,  the  other  over  matter;  the 
one  good,  and  the  other  evil.*  The  professed 
character  of  the  god's  of  paganism  was  distin- 
guished for  crime,  while  the  religion  of  those  who 
worshipped  them  required  them  to  be  immoral. 
I  hold  it  to  be  a  truth  capable  of  clear  demon- 


*  Murdock's  Mosheim,  Warberton's  Divine  Legation,  and  Cud- 
worth's  Intellectual  System. 


THE    MORALITY    OF    THE    BIBLE.  161 

stration,  that  no  man  is  better  than  his  principles. 
To  be  virtuous,  he  must  possess  virtuous  princi- 
ples. "  As  a  man  thinketh  in  his  heart,  so  is  he." 
As  his  principles  are,  so  is  the  man.  There  is  an 
indissoluble  connection  between  the  nature  of  his 
moral  conduct,  and  the  principles  from  which  they 
flow.  Any  thing  may  be  called  by  any  name,  and 
any  thing  may  appear  under  any  shape  5  but  never 
can  it  happen  that  of  "  thorns  men  gather  figs,  nor 
of  a  bramble  bush  gather  they  grapes."  Men  are 
governed  in  their  outward  deportment  by  their  in- 
ward views  and  motives.  It  is  so  in  politics,  in 
literature,  in  science  and  the  arts  *,  and  it  is  so  in 
morals  and  religion.  And  yet,  how  often  do  we 
hear  it  asserted,  that  it  is  of  little  consequence 
what  a  man  believes,  if  his  heart  is  right  5  that  you 
must  look  at  his  character  and  not  at  his  doctrine  5 
that  good  men  are  to  be  found  in  pagan,  Moham- 
medan, and  Christian  lands,  and  of  all  creeds  and 
professions;  that  moral  conduct  is  not  the  result 
of  any  set  of  opinions  5  and  that  it  is  of  no  conse- 
quence what  a  man's  faith  is,  if  he  is  only  sincere ! 
But  this  is  a  delusive  and  destructive  morality.  If 
there  be  any  truth  in  such  a  theory,  moral  princi- 
ples are  of  no  account  whatever.  One  system  of 
morals  is  as  good  as  another,  and  those  persons  are 
just  as  likely  to  be  virtuous  who  believe  what  is 
false,  as  those  who  believe  what  is  true.  But  com- 
mon sense  instinctively  revolts  from  such  a  doc- 
trine, while  all  observation  and  experience  evince 
its  absurdity.     Good  conduct  never  grows  out  of 

14* 


162  THE    MORALITY    OF   THE   BIBLE. 

corrupt  principles,  nor  is  evil  conduct  the  natural 
result  of  principles  that  are  good.  Is  it  so  that  a 
man  may  be  one  thing  in  his  principles,  and  another 
in  his  morality  j  one  thing  in  his  belief,  and  ano- 
ther in  his  character  ?  By  what  sort  of  philosophy 
is  it  that  he  is  thus  divided  against  himself  5  that 
he  is  thus  torn  asunder,  and  while  one  part  of  him 
is  pronounced  good,  another  is  pronounced  bad  ? 
A  man's  principles  are  himself.  His  morality  is 
himself.  Suppose  for  a  moment,  that  the  hypothe- 
sis on  which  we  are  animadverting  should  be  real- 
ized. Here  is  a  man  who  is  one  thing  in  his  prin- 
ciples and  another  thing  in  his  practice.  He  be- 
lieves for  example  that  the  earth  is  a  sphere,  and 
yet  he  navigates  it  as  though  it  were  a  plain.  He 
believes  that  food  is  necessary  to  animal  life,  and 
yet  he  abstains  from  food.  He  believes  that  the 
hand  of  the  diligent  maketh  rich,  and  yet  he  is  a 
sluggard.  He  believes  that  fire  will  burn,  and  yet 
he  plunges  deliberately  into  the  flames.  He  be- 
lieves that  Jehovah  is  the  true  God  and  yet  he 
worships  the  devil.  You  call  him  a  madman  5  and 
well  you  may.  But  not  more  certainly  than  the 
man  who  believes  there  is  no  difference  between 
what  is  right  and  what  is  wrong,  and  yet  forms  all 
his  plans  and  conduct  with  a  view  to  that  differ- 
ence. Not  more  certainly  than  the  man  who  be- 
lieves there  is  no  God  and  no  hereafter,  and  yet 
fears  God  and  shapes  his  deportment  with  a  view 
to  an  hereafter.  His  morality  must  take  its  rise 
from  his  principles.     Moral  principles  constitute 


THE    MORALITY    OF   THE    BIBLE.  163 

the  seed,  the  germ  of  which  moral  character  is  but 
the  developement. 

Men  are  every  where  the  subjects  of  moral  law, 
and  capable  of  moral  actions.  Their  conduct  as 
moral  beings  is  good  or  evil,  as  it  rests  upon  a  true 
or  false  foundation,  as  it  is  determined  by  a  true  or 
false  standard,  as  it  flows  from  right,  or  wrong  mo- 
tives. And  hence  it  is,  that  pagan  morality  is  so 
defective.  Detached  from  the  Bible,  it  has  no 
other  guide  than  the  passions  of  men,  and  those 
few  principles  which  may  be  suggested  by  the 
lights  of  reason  and  nature.  It  is  no  caricature 
of  pagan  morality  to  say,  that  it  had  no  settled 
standard  of  right  and  wrong,  and  that  we  look  in 
vain  throughout  all  their  philosophy  for  any  well 
estabhshed  principles  of  duty,  or  motives  and  aims 
that  commend  themselves  to  an  enhghtened  con- 
science. What  is  the  nature  and  foundation  of 
virtue  5  what  is  the  rule  of  moral  conduct ;  what 
is  the  ultimate  object  toward  which  it  should  be 
directed  5  in  what  does  the  duty  and  happiness  of 
man  consist  ?  are  inquiries  which  never  have  been 
satisfactorily  answered  by  the  unassisted  powers 
of  the  human  mind.  What  the  practical  results 
of  these  uncertain  speculations  were,  the  annals 
of  all  pagan  history  show.  Nor  are  they  any 
where  more  comprehensively  exhibited  than  in  the 
following  declarations  of  the  great  apostle,  con- 
cerning the  whole  pagan  world.  "  They  became 
vain  in  their  imaginations  and  their  foolish  heart 
was  darkened.   They  were  filled  with  all  unrighte- 


164  MORALITY    OF   THE    BIBLE. 

ousness,  fornication,  wickedness,  covetousness,  ma- 
liciousness, envy,  murder,  deceit,  malignity.  They 
were  backbiters,  haters  of  God,  despiteful,  proud, 
inventers  of  evil  things,  disobedient  to  parents, 
without  natural  affection,  implacable  and  unmer- 
ciful." Their  manners  and  customs,  where  not 
dictated  by  the  love  of  wickedness,  seem  to  have 
been  dictated  by  mere  caprice  and  whim.  What 
was  virtue  in  one  country,  was  vice  in  another  5 
and  what  was  unpardonable  rudeness  in  one,  was 
refinement  in  another.  Egypt  was  distinguished 
for  great  corruption  of  morals,  as  early  as  the 
time  of  Abraham  and  Joseph.  Their  public  festi- 
vals were  celebrated  by  practises  so  shameful,  that 
they  disgrace  the  page  of  the  historian.  If  from 
Egypt  you  pass  to  Asia  Minor,  you  see  the  promi- 
nent traits  of  moral  character  still  the  same, — un- 
righteousness, malignity,  luxury,  effieminacy  and 
sensuality.  If  you  look  to  Greece,  in  the  early 
part  of  their  history,  you  see  brutal  savageness  in 
its  most  shameless  forms*,  while,  in  the  age  of 
greater  refinement,  iniquity  only  "  put  on  an  em- 
broidered garb,  and  of  more  delicate  texture." 
The  Olympic,  Pythian,  and  Isthmian  games,  while 
they  imparted  that  strength  of  body  and  courage 
in  battle,  which  were  formerly  the  most  enviable 
qualities  which  this  nation  knew,  degraded  and 
polluted  their  minds  and  morals  to  the  lowest  de- 
gree of  debasement.  Wherever  indeed  you  read 
of  the  "  heroic  ages"  of  ancient  times,  you  may 
be  assured  they  are  fruitful  in  crime  and  horror, 


THE    MORALITY    OF   THE    BIBLE.  165 

in  parricide  and  incest,  and  all  those  melancholy 
and  tragic  catastrophies  which  present  the  most 
dismal  and  hideous  picture  of  our  race.  The 
monarchs  of  Assyria  passed  the  greater  part  of 
their  lives  in  voluptuousness  and  debauchery.  The 
proud  Semiramis,  notwithstanding  all  the  com- 
mendations passed  upon  her  heroism,  led  her  sub- 
jects a  career  of  unrestricted  voluptuousness  and 
debauchery.  The  most  brilliant  ages  of  Babylon 
were  most  distinguished  for  dissolutenesss,  and 
even  the  greatest  refinement  in  debauchery. — 
Gorged  with  riches,  they  tasked  their  ingenuity  in 
the  invention  of  all  that  could  delight  the  senses, 
and  alternately  excite  and  gratify  the  basest  pas- 
sions. Here  was  that  memorable  temple  in  which 
every  female  was  obliged  by  law,  once  in  her  life 
to  prostitute  herself  to  a  stranger,  for  the  purpose 
of  augmenting  the  public  revenue.  As  a  general 
fact,  debauchery  was  not  only  allowed  by  the 
ancient  pagans,  but  approved  by  their  religion. 
Even  as  cultivated  a  mind  as  that  of  Cicero,  re- 
garded it  as  no  crime.  Horace  represents  Cato 
as  commending  the  young  men  who  frequent  the 
public  houses  of  pollution,  because  they  did  no- 
thing  worse.*     If  such   were  the    morals  of  the 


"  Virtute  esto,  inquit  sententia,  Dia  Catonis 
Nam  simul  ac  venas  inflavit  tetra  libido 
Hue  juvenes,  equum  est  descendere  non  alienas 
Permolere  uxores."  Sat.  lib.  I.  S.  2.  v.  32. 


106  THE    MORALITY    OF    THE    BIBLE. 

purest  state  of  Rome,  and  of  Cato,  the  severest 
censor  of  public  manners,  what  must  have  been 
the  most  impure  ?  I  will  tell  you  what  they  were. 
The  emperor  Nero  drove  through  the  streets  of 
his  capital  with  his  naked  mistress  5  and  the  empe- 
ror Commodus  first  dishonoured,  and  then  mur- 
dered his  own  sister.  "  If  these  things  were  done 
in  the  green  tree,  what  were  done  in  the  dry." 
Vice  always  descends  from  rulers  to  subjects.  If 
such  were  the  morals  of  emperors,  what  must  have 
been  the  morals  of  the  common  people  ?  And 
what  but  such  a  depravation  of  morals  is  to  be 
expected,  where  reason,  blinded  by  appetite,  is  the 
only  guide  5  where  conscience  has  no  firm  moor- 
ing, and  the  only  impulse  is  the  fitful  breath  of 
passion  ?  How  could  the  doctrines  of  paganism 
excite  to  moral  virtue  ?  It  is  perfectly  obvious 
from  the  character  of  their  gods,  and  from  their 
hopes  of  a  voluptuous  paradise,  that  the  whole 
system  of  the  pagan  world  had  not  the  least  ten- 
dency to  produce  and  cherish  virtuous  emotions. 
And  how  much  better  are  the  moral  principles 
of  modern  infidels  ?  Lord  Bolingbroke  resolves 
all  morality  into  self  love.  And  so  does  Volney. 
Hobbes  maintains  that  the  sole  foundation  of  right 
and  wrong  is  the  civil  law.  Rousseau  says,  "  All 
the  morality  of  our  actions  Hes  in  the  judgment 
we  ourselves  form  of  them."  Lord  Shaftesbury 
declares  that  "all  the  obligations  to  be  virtuous 
arise  from  the  advantages  of  virtue,  and  the  disad- 
vantages of  vice."      Hume  affirms,  that  "moral, 


THE    MORALITY    OF   THE   BIBLE.  167 

intellectual,  and  corporeal  virtues  are  nearly  of 
the  same  kind."  Have  such  moral  principles  ever 
reformed  the  world  ?  Did  they  reform  their  au- 
thors ?  Where  will  such  principles  lead,  if  carried 
out  into  practice  ?  What  are  their  fruits  ?  What 
is  there  in  an  enlightened  conscience  that  responds 
to  their  pretensions  ? 

And  are  there  not  some  systems  of  ethical  phi- 
losophy which  are  not  found  either  among  pagans, 
or  infidels  that  are  far  below  the  spirit  of  the 
Bible  ?  What  is  the  morality,  the  foundation  of 
which  is  simply  what  is  useful  and  expedient  j  the 
standard  of  which  is  the  spirit  and  maxims  of  this 
world  J  and  the  motives  of  which  are  purely  mer- 
cenary and  selfish  ?  Can  that  be  called  morality, 
which  recognizes  no  immutable  distinction-  be- 
tween what  is  right  and  what  is  wrong  5  which 
has  no  reference  to  the  obligations  of  the  divine 
law  'j  and  is  concerned  only  with  our  own  interests  ? 
Can  that  be  called  morality  which  asks,  not  what 
is  right,  but  what  is  profitable  ?  which  enquires 
not  for  duty,  but  for  interest,  for  the  opinions  of 
men,  for  the  spirit  of  the  age  ?  Such  a  morality 
is  most  certainly  radically  defective.  It  is  the 
morality  of  the  world,  not  of  the  Bible.  It  is  a 
mere  external  -  morality.  It  has  no  thorough 
lodgment,  no  permanent  abode  in  the  hidden 
chambers  of  the  soul.  It  is  a  superficial  observ- 
ance. It  is  what  all  morality  must  be,  separated 
from  the  truth  of  the  Scriptures : — a  body  without 


168  THE    MORALITY    OF    THE    BIBLE. 

a  soul — a  whited  sepulchre — splendid  only  in  se- 
pulchral magnificence. 

The  morality  of  the  Bible  is  well  and  intelligibly 
defined.  Its  foundation,  its  standard,  its  motives 
are  distinctly  set  before  us,  and  ought  not  to  be 
misunderstood.  Why  then  is  any  being  in  the 
universe  under  obligations  to  be  morally  virtuous  ? 
Why  is  the  Divine  Being  bound  to  be  holy,  unless 
because  holiness  is  right,  and  he  is  capable  of  per- 
ceiving it  to  be  so  ?  And  why  are  intelligent 
creatures  bound  to  be  morally  virtuous,  unless  be- 
cause they  are  so  made  as  to  be  able  to  perceive, 
and  feel  under  obligation  to  approve  and  practise 
moral  virtue  ?  "  Be  ye  holy^  for  I  the  Lord  your 
God  am  holy.''''  If  the  Divine  Being  were  malevo- 
lent, or  selfish,  would  that  circumstance  bind  us  to 
be  so  too  ?  The  moral  excellence  of  the  divine 
character  is  a  good  and  sufficient  reason  why  men 
should  be  morally  excellent.  God  requires  them  to 
be  holy.,  because  he  is  holy.  The  character  that 
is  right  in  God,  is  right  in  creatures.  It  is  in  its 
own  nature  just  what  it  ought  to  be.  The  Deity 
would  not  be  satisfied  with  himself  without  pos- 
sessing such  a  character ;  nor  would  virtuous  and 
holy  minds  be  satisfied  with  him,  if  he  were  not 
thus  perfectly  amiable  and  excellent.  God  is 
love  5  God  is  truth  5  God  is  rectitude  5  God  is 
mercy  •,  God  is  justice.  There  is  a  wide  and  im- 
mutable diflference  between  such  a  character  and 
the  opposite.    The  former  is  right,  and  the  latter 


THE    MORALITY    OF   THE    BIBLE.  169 

is  wrong.  Nothing  can  reconcile  them.  There 
is  not,  nor  can  there  be  any  gradual  approxima- 
tion of  them  to  one  another.  They  are  perfect 
opposites,  and  so  will  always  remain.  It  would 
not  be  right  for  God  to  possess  any  other  charac- 
ter than  that  which  he  does  possess  5  and  no  con- 
siderations of  profit  and  loss,  no  considerations  of 
the  probable  tendency  of  any  other  character,  can 
ever  induce  him  to  change,  or  modify  it  •,  nor 
were  it  possible  to  do  so,  except  for  the  worse. 
The  foundation  of  moral  obligation  therefore  lies 
in  the  immutable  difference  between  what  is  right 
and  what  is  wrong,  and  in  the  capacity  of  intelli- 
gent beings  to  perceive  that  difference.  I  say  in 
the  capacity  to  perceive  that  difference  5  for  in  a 
fallen  creature  especially,  that  difference  may  not 
always  be  perceived,  while  the  obligation  to  per- 
ceive it  remains  unimpared.  When  we  look  at 
our  own  natures,  and  the  natures  of  our  fellow 
men  5  when  we  contemplate  the  relations  we  sus- 
tain to  them  and  they  sustain  to  us  j  unless  our 
minds  are  blinded  by  wickedness,  we  cannot  help 
perceiving  that  all  the  moral  virtues  are  right. 
They  grow  out  of  our  mutual  relations,  and  not  to 
practise  them  is  wrong.  And  on  this  basis  the 
Scriptures  place' our  obligations  to  moral  virtue. 

It  has  been  often  asserted  that  utility  is  the 
foundation  of  moral  obligation.  Utility  to  whom  ? 
To  mc  ?  Then  indeed  is  the  securing  of  my  own 
advantage  the  great  end.  And  what  sort  of  moral 
virtue  is  this  ?    Utility  to  the   universe  ?    Then 

15 


170  THE    MORALITY    OF    THE    BIBLE. 

let  it  be  made  to  appear  that  throughout  the  vast 
empire  of  God  no  sinful  thought  or  action  was 
ever  indispensable  to  the  highest  good.  Nothing 
is  more  obvious  from  the  Bible  than  that  the  reason 
why  God  requires  moral  virtue  is,  not  because  it  is 
useful,  but  because  it  is  right.  He  is  "  of  purer 
eyes  than  to  behold  iniquity  and  cannot  look  on 
sin."  He  could  not  be  bribed  to  do  this  for  all  the 
universe,  ten  thousand  times  told.  He  requires 
the  duties  of  morality  because  they  are  right,  and 
in  conformity  with  himself.  He  does  not  "  do  evil 
that  good  may  come."  He  never  requires  men  to 
do  what  is  wrong,  even  though  he  foresees  in  many 
instances,  that  their  sinful  conduct  may  be  turned 
to  the  best  account.  It  is  utterly  immoral  to  make 
utility  the  foundation  of  moral  obhgation,  and  to 
assign  either  the  direct  or  indirect  tendency  of  an 
action  to  promote  happiness,  as  the  reason  why  it 
ought  to  be  performed.  Moral,  virtue  has  a  nature 
besides  its  tendency  to  happiness.  Just  as  truth 
diflers  essentially  and  immutably  from  falsehood, 
just  as  light  differs  from  darkness,  and  sweet  from 
bitter,  does  good  differ  from  evil.  No  law  can 
confound  them  j  no  beneficial  tendency  of  the  one, 
or  of  the  other  can  alter  their  nature  5  but  like  the 
nature  of  the  Deity,  they  will  remain  forever  the 
same.  To  make  utility  the  foundation  of  moral 
virtue,  seems  to  my  mind  to  tear  up  all  the  founda- 
tions of  moral  virtue  itself.  Virtue  is  no  longer 
virtue,  and  vice  is  no  longer  vice,  if  this  theory  be 
true.     If  this  theory  were  true,  then,  if  in  view  of 


THE    MORALITY    OF    THE    BIBLE.  171 

the  divine  mind,  vice  is  expedient,  it  is  no  longer 
vice  5  and  if  virtue  is  inexpedient,  it  is  no  longer 
virtue.  And  what  wonder  if  men  should  abuse 
this  reasoning,  put  themselves  in  the  place  of  God, 
and  decide  that  to  be  virtue  which  promotes  their 
happiness,  and  that  to  be  vice  which  promotes 
their  misery  ?  There  have  been  such  moral  philo- 
sophers and  they  are  well  described  by  the  apostle 
as — "  men  of  corrupt  minds,  supposing  that  gain 
is  godliness."  Such  a  morality  were  the  most 
changeful  and  evanescent  thing  in  the  world.  No 
matter  what  its  pretensions,  it  is  mere  selfishness, 
and  radically  hostile  to  all  moral  virtue.  If  virtue 
is  any  thing,  it  is  virtue  every  where  and  always  5 
and  if  vice  is  any  thing — any  thing  but  a  name,  it 
is  vice  always  and  every  where.  The  divine  na- 
ture is  unchanging.  It  is  virtue — the  highest 
virtue  ^  and  nothing  in  the  condition  of  this  world, 
or  other  worlds — nothing  in  the  divine  purposes 
or  government — nothing  in  time  or  eternity,  can 
alter  its  nature.  And  this  is  one  reason  why,  when 
the  knowledge  of  God  was  lost  in  the  world,  there 
were  no  longer  any  just  ideas  of  virtue  and  moral 
obligation.  How  is  it  possible  there  should  be  a 
sound  morality  where  there  is  no  knowledge  of 
God  ?  There  is  a  chasm  in  morals  which  can  be 
supplied  only  by  a  just  acquaintance  with  the 
Deity. 

The  Bible  teaches  us  that  the  true  and  only 
standard  of  morality  is  the  divine  law.  The  rule, 
or  standard  of  duty,  is  a  different  thing  from  the 


172  THE    MORALITY    OF    THE    BIBLE. 

foundation  of  moral  obligation.  No  being  in  the 
universe  is  so  capable  of  judging  of  the  nature  of 
moral  virtue,  of  the  difference  between  what  is 
right  and  what  is  wrong  in  all  the  circumstances 
and  relations  of  human  existence,  and  of  what  is, 
and  what  is  not  conformed  to  his  own  character, 
as  God  himself.  No  creature  has  the  right  to  do 
this  to  any  such  extent  as  would  make  his  own 
will,  or  judgment,  or  notions  of  any  kind,  the  rule. 
The  only  standard  to  which  all  human  conduct 
ought  to  be  conformed,  and  conformity  to  which 
is  rectitude,  is  the  law  of  the  great  Supreme.  If 
there  be  a  God,  he  must  rule  j  his  will  must  be 
law.  He  has  no  superior,  no  antecedent  5  and  there 
is  no  being  of  equal  claims  and  rectitude.  He  only 
has  a  right  to  give  law,  and  he  only  is  able  to  give  it 
in  conformity  to  the  eternal  rule  of  his  own  perfect 
nature.  We  have  perfect  assurance  that  his  law  is 
like  himself,  and  that  he  requires  nothing  but  what 
is  right,  and  forbids  nothing  but  what  is  wrong.  Be- 
cause his  own  character  is  spotless  and  pure,  he 
requires  purity  in  others.  Nothing  'but  moral 
virtue  is  the  object  of  his  approbation  and  com- 
placency, and  therefore  he  can  require  nothing 
else.  His  will  is  the  safe  standard  in  kind,  weight 
and  measure.  Whose  will  should  be  law,  if  not 
his  in  whom  men  live,  and  move,  and  have  their 
being  5  whose,  if  not  the  will  of  that  great  law- 
giver, whose  authority  is  uncontrolled  and  infinite  ? 
How  can  we  wonder  at  the  fluctuating  morality 
of  the  pagan  nations,  when  they  have  no  unfluc- 


THE    MORALITY    OF   THE    BIBLE.  173 

tuating  standard?  how  can  it  be  otherwise  than 
that  their  ideas  of  moral  virtue  should  be  low  and 
contracted,  when  even  their  very  vices  are  pre- 
scribed as  virtues  ? 

If  the  previous  remarks  are  just,  it  scarcely  need 
be  said,  that  the  grand  motive  of  a  sound  morality 
is  a  heart-felt  respect  for  God  as  the  rightful  law- 
giver. It  is  a  remark  of  the  infidel  Volney,  that 
"  there  is  no  merit,  or  crime  in  intention."  Just 
the  reverse  of  this,  is  the  morality  of  the  Bible. 
What  it  uniformly  requires  is  virtuous  conduct 
springing  from  right  motives.  It  aims  at  the  heart. 
It  addresses  its  claims,  not  to  the  love  of  pleasure, 
nor  the  love  of  the  world,  nor  the  love  of  fame  and 
power,  but  to  an  ingenuous  regard  for  God.  It  is 
a  sense  of  duty  that  governs,  and  of  duty  springing 
from  love  to  God.  It  is  a  sense  of  right.  Our 
selfishness  may  be  never  so  wisely  directed  5  its 
calculations  may  be  never  so  shrewd  and  politic  j 
but  they  can  never  rise  to  the  elevation  of  holy 
love.  Nay,  "  though  I  give  all  my  goods  to  feed 
the  poor,  and  my  body  to  be  burned,  and  have  not 
love  5  I  am  nothing."  The  morality  and  the  reli- 
gion of  the  Bible  are  identified.  "  This  is  the  love 
of  God  that  we  keep  his  commandments."  There 
is  no  love  to  God'  without  keeping  his  command- 
ments, and  there  is  no  keeping  his  commandments 
without  love  to  God.  There  is  no  religion  without 
morality,  and  there  is  no  morality  without  religion. 
In  the  language  of  a  modern  Scottish  writer,  "  Mo- 
rality is  religion  in  practice  5  religion  is  morality  in 

15* 


174  THE    MORALITY    OF    THE    BIBLE. 

principle."*  The  morality  of  the  Bible  springs 
from  the  predominant  principle  of  holy  love.  And 
it  is  an  all-governing  principle — fruitful,  life-giving 
and  powerful — stronger  even  than  the  energetic 
principles  of  evil  within  us,  and  making  the  yoke 
of  obedience  easy,  and  its  burden  light. 

Such  are  the  distinctions  between  the  morality 
of  the.  world  and  the  morality  of  the  Scriptures. 
The  former  has  no  foundation  on  which  it  can 
rest  5  no  unvarying  standard,  no  high-born  impulse. 
It  may  have  instances  of  cautious  abstinence,  of 
ardent  devotement,  of  heroic  magnanimity  5  but 
they  will  not  bear  the  inspection  of  the  omniscient 
eye,  nor  the  analysis  of  eternal  truth.  Their  ele- 
ments are  pride,  vanity,  and  egotism.  Actions 
whose  fame  has  resounded  through  the  world,  at- 
chievements  whose  praise  is  recorded  on  the  page 
of  history,  men  whose  proud  name  has  been  encir- 
cled with  a  halo  of  human  glory  from  age  to  age, 
will  all  be  found  wanting  when  once  weighed  in 
the  balances  of  eternal  truth  and  rectitude.  It  is  a 
remark  of  Foster,  in  his  Essay  upon  the  causes  for 
the  neglect  of  evangelical  religion  by  men  of  taste, 
that  "  the  moral  philosophers  seem  anxious  to  avoid 
every  thing  that  might  subject  them  to  the  appel- 
lation of  Christian  divines.  They  regard  their  de- 
partment as  a  science  complete  in  itself  j  and  they 
investigate  the  foundations  of  morality,  define  its 
laws,  and  affix  its  sanctions  in  a  manner  generally 


♦  Wardlaw's  Christian  Ethics. 


THE    MORALITY    OF    THE    BIBLE.  175 

SO  distinct  from  Christianity,  that  the  reader  would 
almost  conclude  religion  to  be  another  science 
complete  in  itself.  It  is  striking  to  observe  how 
small  a  portion  of  the  ideas  which  distinguish  the 
New  Testament  from  other  books,  many  moral 
philosophers  have  thought  indispensable  to  a  the- 
ory, in  which  they  professed  to  include  the  entire 
duty  and  interests  of  men.  A  serious  reader  is  con- 
strained to  feel  that  there  is  either  too  much  in 
that  book,  or  too  little  in  theirs."  The  justice  and 
importance  of  these  observations  will  occur  to  the 
mind  of  every  one  as  he  adverts  to  the  treatises  of 
Paley,  Gisborn,  Brown,  Stewart,  and  Mcintosh. 
It  should  excite  no  great  surprise  in  a  Christian 
audience  to  be  told  that  the  science  of  morals  is 
founded  on  the  principles  of  divine  revelation,  and 
that  the  great  principles  of  morality  are  insepara- 
ble from  the  word  of  God.  Moral  philosophy  is 
the  science  which  treats  of  the  nature  of  human 
actions,  of  the  motives  and  laws  which  govern 
them,  and  of  the  ends  to  which  they  ought  to  be 
directed.  And  surely  such  a  philosophy  is  found 
in  the  Bible  alone.  For  the  heart  to  be  right  to- 
ward man,  it  must  be  right  with  God.  Motives  for 
the  regulation  of  human  conduct  are  suggested  in 
abundance  by  men  whose  moral  theories  were 
never  identified  with  the  sacred  volume  5  but  they 
have  been  addressed,  if  not  to  the  worst,  to  some 
of  the  most  unworthy  passions  of  the  human  heart. 
But  the  morality  founded  on  such  a  basis,  and  sup- 
ported by  such  incentives,  is  devoid  of  principle. 


176  THE    MORALITY    OF    THE    BIBLE. 

It  knows  no  law  but  the  opinions  of  men,  and  the 
ever  fluctuating  state  of  human  society.  It  invests 
itself  with  different  forms,  as  the  character  of  the 
age,  the  state  of  the  times,  and  the  circumstances 
of  the  individual  require.  It  is  one  thing  in  Europe, 
and  another  in  Asia  j  one  thing  in  the  palace,  and 
another  in  the  mansions  of  the  poor  5  one  thing 
amid  the  quietude  and  searching  observation  of  a 
rural  village,  and  another  amid  the  bustle  and  con- 
cealment of  a  crowded  city  5  one  thing  on  the  Ex- 
change, and  another  amid  the  retirement  of  private 
life  j  one  thing  in  the  equable  seasons  of  untempt- 
ing  prosperity,  another  amid  the  embarrassments 
and  agitations  of  calamity  and  misfortune*,  one 
thing  in  peace,  and  another  in  war ;  one  thing  at 
home,  and  another  abroad.  It  is  one  thing  to-day, 
and  another  thing  to-morrow.  It  is  unstable  as 
water  and  variable  as  the  wind.  It  is  a  tempori- 
zing, time-serving  morality.  It  complies  with  the 
hour  and  the  occasion.  It  humours  the  current  of 
opinion  and  circumstances.  It  is  a  system  of  moral 
obsequiousness,  that  is  every  where  pliant  and  con- 
ciliating except  to  the  claims  of  sterling  integrity. 

But  with  what  different  views  do  we  regard  the 
morality  of  the  Scriptures.  On  every  page  of 
this  sacred  volume  we  see  a  system  of  ethics  as 
pure,  as  lofty,  as  invariable  as  its  Divine  Author. 
We  meet  with  perpetual  evidence  of  those  great 
principles  of  unbending  virtue,  which,  while  they 
purify  and  regulate  the  interior,  also  purify  and 
regulate  the  exterior  man  5  and  which  produce  an 


THE    MORALITY    OF    THE    BIBLE.  177 

equability  of  character,  a  "calm  constancy,"  a 
tenderness  of  conscience,  a  kindness  of  spirit,  as 
far  removed  from  the  morality  and  philanthropy 
of  the  world,  as  are  the  cold  abstractions  of  hea- 
then philosophy  from  the  sermon  on  the  mount. 
The  Bible  settles  the  great  question.  What  is  du- 
ty ?  It  is  every  where  famihar  with  that  all-im- 
portant principle,  that  to  do  right^  men  must 
do  what  is  right  in  itself^  from  right  motives^ 
and  with  a  right  spirit.  These  two  things  God 
has  joined  together,  and  no  man  may  put  them 
asunder.  It  is  not  enough  that  a  man's  conscience 
is  satisfied  that  he  is  doing  right,  unless  he  does 
it  with  a  right  spirit  and  from  right  motives.  Nor 
is  it  enough  that  he  acts  from  a  right  spirit  and 
right  motives,  unless  he  does  what  is  right  in  itself. 
He  may  not  speak  what  is  untrue,  because  he  does 
it  with  benevolent  intentions  j  nor  wreak  a  malig- 
nant revenge  upon  his  enemy,  because  his  con- 
science may  be  so  blinded  as  to  justify  his  maligni- 
ty. Conscience  may  be  so  blinded  as  to  lead  a 
man  sincerely  to  do  what  is  abomination  in  the 
sight  of  God.  The  rectitude  of  his  conduct  may 
not  depend  on  his  sincerity.  He  may  act  from 
prejudice,  selfishness,  and  malevolence;  and  the 
time  may  come  wben,  notwithstanding  all  the  con- 
victions of  his  conscience,  like  Saul  of  Tarsus,  he 
may  bewail  the  madness  of  his  spirit,  and  see  that 
he  was  altogether  without  excuse.  His  conscience 
may  adopt  false  conclusions,  conclusions  in  which 
light  is  resisted  because  he  loves  darkness ;  while 


178  THE    MORALITY    OF    THE    BIBLE. 

in  opposition  to  evidence  he  may  persist  in  these 
conclusions,  because  a  wrong  spirit  has  paramount 
power.  It  is  only  when  conscience  is  obeyed 
from  a  right  spirit,  that  we  have  convincing  evi- 
dence that  our  conduct  is  right  in  the  sight  of 
God.  We  may  do  many  things  that  seem  to  be 
right,  from  a  wrong  spirit  5  and  we  may  do  many 
things  that  are  wrong,  from  a  right  spirit.  The 
morahty  of  the  Bible  teaches  us  that  to  do  right, 
we  must  do  so  from  a  right  spirit. 

Such  a  morality  is  the  same  thing  every  where. 
In  every  portion  of  it  you  see  the  divine  original. 
What  it  is  now,  it  always  was,  and  always  will  be. 
The  knowledge  and  love  of  God  impart  a  simpli- 
city, a  symmetry,  a  beauty  to  the  theory  of  morals 
which  insinuate  themselves  into  every  part  of  the 
system,  and  by  a  thousand  imperceptible  shades 
and  impulses,  adorn  and  control  the  whole.  What 
beautiful  simplicity,  what  resistless  energy,  when 
contrasted  with  the  heavy  and  complicated  move- 
ments of  an  infidel,  a  pagan,  or  a  pharisaic  mo- 
rality !  God  requires  it — this  is  the  motive  which 
sways  the  Christian  moralist.  You  may  descant 
upon  the  dignity  of  his  nature,  upon  the  beauty  of 
virtue,  the  turpitude  of  vice,  and  the  claims  of  a 
well  regulated  selfishness  •,  but  how  weak  and  un- 
attractive are  such  considerations  compared  with 
the  authority  of  that  Supreme  Being  whom  he 
loves  and  adores ! 

Would  you  reform  the  manners  of  human  so- 
ciety, you  must  aim  at  the  heart  5  you  must  diffuse 


THE    MORALITY    OF    THE    BIBLE.  170 

throughout  the  mass  the  leaven  of  truth ,  you  must 
throw  around  the  conscience  the  strong  bonds  of 
obhgation,  and  draw  the  heart  by  the  cords  of 
love,  as  with  the  bands  of  a  man.  You  must 
extend  the  empire  of  the  great  Lawgiver  over  the 
understanding,  over  the  memory,  over  the  imagi- 
nation, over  the  warm  and  grateful  affections,  over 
the  whole  soul.  This  alone  will  suppress  the  ger- 
minations of  crime,  and  check  wickedness  in  its 
bud.  This  will  impart  the  seeds  of  virtuous  prin- 
ciple, which,  in  the  maturity  of  their  growth  and 
expansion,  will  exemphfy  on  the  largest  scale  the 
great  practical  axiom,  distinguished  alike  for  its 
certainty  and  its  perspicuity,  "  Make  the  tree  good 
and  its  fruit  good." 

The  only  specious  objection  to  the  morality  of 
the  Bible  is,  that  it  is  one  of  its  leading  doctrines 
that  moral  virtue  avails  nothing  toward  making  an 
atonement  for  sin  *,  that  no  transgressor  of  the  di- 
vine law  can  merit  anything  by  his  good  works ; 
that  his  justification  is  entirely  gratuitous  and  rests 
upon  the  righteousness  of  another  5  and  that  in  the 
whole  matter  of  his  salvation,  "  it  is  not  of  him 
that  willeth,  nor  of  him  that  runneth,  but  of  God 
that  showeth  mercy."  If  this  is  so,  of  what  avail, 
it  is  asked,  are  all  the  moral  virtues,  and  what  en- 
couragement have  men  to  do  the  will  of  God  ? 
We  need  only  reply  to  this,  that  the  foundation 
of  man's  acceptance  and  justification  before  God 
is  one  thing,  and  the  character  or  moral  condi- 
tion in  which  he  is  justified  is  another.    The  foun- 


180  THE    MORALITY    OF    THE    BIBLE. 

dation  of  his  justification  is  the  finished  atonement, 
the  obedience  unto  death  of  God's  eternal  Son. 
The  character,  or  moral  condition  in  which  he  is 
justified  is  that  of  a  repentant  sinner,  an  humble 
believer  in  Jesus  Christ.  But  what  is  the  faith 
which  is  thus  the  condition  of  his  acceptance  ?  Is 
it  a  cold  assent  to  the  truths  of  the  gospel  ?  Or  is 
it  a  warm,  vivifying  sentiment  of  the  heart,  working 
by  love  and  putting  all  the  powers  of  the  soul  into 
vigorous  action  in  deeds  of  righteousness  ?  "  What 
doth  it  profit,  tho'  a  man  say  he  have  faith  and 
have  not  works?"  Do  the  Scriptures  recognize 
any  such  faith  as  this,  even  though  a  man  may  say 
he  have  it,  and  that  it  is  the  true  faith  ?  "  Can 
such  a  faith  save  him  ?"  Never.  If  it  have  not 
works,  "  it  is  dead,  being  alone."  It  is  no  faith. 
Works  of  righteousness  are  not  merely  the  fruits 
of  faith,  but  they  enter  into  the  nature  of  all  the 
faith  that  lives,  and  breaths,  and  throws  its  anima- 
ting pulsations  throughout  his  moral  frame.  So 
that  the  method  of  gratuitous  justification  by  faith 
in  the  Son  of  God,  instead  of  annihilating,  con- 
firms *,  instead  of  diminishing,  augments  5  and  in- 
stead of  countervailing,  gives  a  new  impulse  to 
the  primoeval  obligations  and  motives  to  moral  vir- 
tue. "How  shall  we  who  are  dead  to  sin,  live 
any  longer  therein  ?"  Is  this  undermining  the 
obligations  to  moral  virtue  ?  "  Ye  have  been 
bought  with  a  price,  and  that  not  of  silver  and 
gold,  but  with  the  precious  blood  of  the  Son  of 
God,  as  of  a  lamb  without  blemish  and  without 


THE    MORALITY    OF   THE    BIBLE.  181 

spot  J  wherefore  glorify  God  in  your  bodies  and 
spirits,  which  are  his."  Is  this  diminishing  the 
motives  to  moral  virtue  ?  "  The  love  of  Christ 
constraineth  us,  because  we  thus  judge,  that  if  one 
died  for  all,  then  were  all  dead  5  and  that  he  died 
for  all,  that  they  which  live  should  not  henceforth 
live  unto  themselves,  but  to  him  that  died  for 
them,  and  rose  again."  Is  this  weakening  the 
force  of  moral  obHgation?  "Do  we  make  void 
the  law  through  faith  ?  Yea,  we  establish  the 
law."  "This  do,  and  thou  shall  live,"  is  to  the 
transgressor  an  impracticable  condition.  It  is  too 
late  for  a  sinner  to  dream  of  being  justified  by 
deeds  of  law.  But  there  is  another  law.  "  Be- 
lieve, and  thou  shall  be  saved."  Under  the  first 
covenant,  obedience  secures  salvation  5  under  the 
second,  salvation  secures  obedience.  He  "loves 
much,  who  has  much  forgiven  j"  and  he  only 
obeys,  who  loves. 

If  I  urge  upon  you  then,  my  young  friends  the 
claims  of  morality,  it  is  the  morality  of  the  Bible. 
It  is  not  the  morality  of  Seneca  or  Plato.  Nor  is 
it  the  morality  of  the  young  man  who  said,  "  All 
these  have  I  kept  from  my  youth  up  j"  but  whose 
"  heart  was  bound  in  fetters  of  gold."  There  is  a 
morality  that  will  never  become  the  possessor  of 
heavenly  treasures.  Nay,  it  were  "easier  for  a 
camel  to  go  through  the  eye  of  a  needle,"  than  for 
such  a  morality  to  enter  into  the  kingdom  of  God. 
You  must  practically  acknowledge  the  God  of 
heaven  as  your  king  and  love  him  with  an   un- 

16 


182  THE    MORALITY    OF   THE    BIBLE. 

divided  heart.  You  must  take  up  your  cross  and 
follow  your  Saviour,  or  you  are  not  worthy  of  him. 
True  morality  will  lead  you  to  love  him  above  all 
others,  and  prefer  his  service  above  that  of  all  other 
masters.  Without  this,  it  were  in  vain  to  think 
of  governing  your  life  by  his  example  and  laws. 
A  mere  outward  morality  will  serve  you  and  your 
generation  a  little  while  j  it  may  even  diminish  the 
aggravation  of  your  guilt  and  the  weight  of  your 
sufferings  in  the  future  world.  But  it  can  avert 
neither  5  and  if  this  is  all  you  have  to  plead  in 
the  presence  of  your  Judge,  it  will  "profit  you 
nothing." 


LECTURE  VII. 


THE     INFLUENCE    OF    THE    BIBLE    UPON     THE    SOCIAL 
INSTITUTIONS. 


By  s6cial  institutions,  I  mean  those  which  form 
the  basis,  or  grow  out  of  the  various  relations  of 
human  society.  Man  is  a  social  being.  His  phy- 
sical, intellectual,  and  moral  constitution,  have  a 
manifest  reference  to  a  state  of  social  existence. 
Destitute  of  that  strength  which  distinguishes 
many  animals,  unfurnished  by  nature  either  with 
weapons  to  resist,  or  speed  to  escape  from  their 
attacks,  care  for  his  safety  alone  would  lead  him 
to  unite  himself  in  close  alHance  with  others  of 
his  species.  The  years  of  childhood  and  old  age 
are  conditions  in  which  he  must  of  necessity  de- 
pend upon  others ;  and  in  claiming  during  these 
periods  of  infirmity,  sustenance  and  protection 
from  his  fellow  men,  he  must  consent  in  the  days 
of  his  own  strength  to  anticipate  and  deserve  them. 


184  SOCIAL    INSTITUTIONS. 

Though  well  nigh  the  most  helpless  of  all  the  ani- 
mal creation,  no  longer  a  weak,  isolated  existence, 
he  has  been  constituted  the  lord  of  this  lower 
world.  Instead  of  being  the  prey  of  ravenous 
beasts,  he  holds  the  brute  creation  in  fear  and  ser- 
vitude 5  instead  of  being  exposed  to  the  tempest, 
his  dwelUng  bids  defiance  to  the  winds  5  and  when 
the  hunger,  want,  and  debility  which  he  has  suc- 
coured in  others,  become  his  own  lot,  his  past  ser- 
vices return  to  him  at  the  hands  of  his  fellows, 
though  it  be  after  many  days.  But  not  alone 
from  his  physical  nature  is  he  impelled  to  seek  the 
society  of  his  species.  His  moral  and  intellectual 
faculties  determine  him  no  less  strongly  to  a  social 
state,  and  pre-eminently  fit  him  for  it.  Some  of 
the  noblest  faculties  of  his  soul,  as  well  as  some  of 
the  most  amiable  and  exalted  of  his  natural  affec- 
tions could  be  exercised  only  in  such  a  condition. 
Benevolence,  complacency,  gratitude  and  heroism 
would  all  lie  dormant,  if  he  were  an  isolated  being. 
Next  to  the  pure  fountains  of  spiritual  joy,  the 
most  delightful  sources  of  his  enjoyment  are  those 
for  the  first  time  unlocked  when  he  meets  his  fel- 
low man.  Isolated  man  can  scarcely  be  said  to 
have  the  capacity  for  lofty  thought,  or  great  at- 
chievement.  The  noble  efforts  of  human  power 
and  genius,  of  which  there  are  so  many  monu- 
ments in  our  world,  have  been  made  under  the 
strong  encouragement,  the  powerful  incentive  of 
society.  Led  by  these  impulses,  and  guided  by 
the  light  of  nature  alone,  man  has  no  doubt  made 


SOCIAL    INSTITUTIONS.  185 

vast  progress  in  the  arts  of  social  life.  He  has 
founded  empires,  builded  cities,  collected  armies, 
and  has  framed  laws  for  their  government  and 
guidance.  Literature  and  the  arts  have  flourished 
in  a  greater  or  less  degree  of  splendour,  and  a 
beneficial,  though  imperfect  code  of  morality  has 
crowned  the  work  of  his  mind  and  hands,  and 
raised  it  to  the  highest  elevation  which  his  own 
unaided  powers  have  permitted. 

Still  however  the  structure  is  incomplete.  It 
rests  on  no  sure  foundation,  and  is  also  imperfectly 
cemented  and  fitted  together.  The  elements  of 
which  it  is  compounded  are  of  such  conflicting 
qualities,  that  they  can  be  brought  into  harmony 
and  perfect  union,  only  by  the  all-pervading  in- 
fluence of  a  pure  system  of  morality,  founded  on 
pure  rehgion.  To  be  sensible  of  this,  it  is  neces- 
sary to  take  a  glance  at  the  various  relations  of 
human  life  where  no  supernatural  revelation  has 
ever  been  made.  And  here  permit  me  to  remark, 
this  is  the  only  method  of  ascertaining  the  appro- 
priate influence  of  a  supernatural  revelation  upon 
the  social  institutions.  What  was  the  state  of  hu- 
man society  before  the  Bible  was  given  to  men  ? 
What  has  been  its  condition  since,  and  what  is  it 
now?  There  are  evils  in  the  social  state;  but  had 
they  no  existence  before  a  supernatural  revelation 
was  known  ?  In  what  condition  did  the  Scriptures 
find  the  social  institutions  ?  In  what  condition  are 
these  institutions  found  at  the  present  day,  where 
the  Bible  has  never  been  known,  or  heard  of?  In- 

16* 


186  SOCIAL    INSTITUTIONS. 

fidels  have  charged  not  a  few  of  the  social  calami- 
ties in  the  world  on  the  introduction  of  Chris- 
tianity. But  I  cannot  help  thinking,  that  if  they 
did  not  feel  an  interest  in  rejecting  the  sacred 
Scriptures  j  if  these  holy  oracles  did  not  so  severely 
reprove  their  wickedness  and  rebuke  their  pride; 
and  if  they  were  not  either  profoundly  ignorant, 
or  obstinately  perverse;  they  would  never  resort 
to  so  dishonourable  and  disingenuous  a  mode  of 
reasoning.  The  true  questions  in  such  a  discus- 
sion are,  has  human  society  ever  been  well  organ- 
ized without  the  Bible  ? — Have  the  social  rights 
and  obligations  been  any  where  understood  and 
respected,  where  the  Scriptures  have  had  no  exist- 
ence ? — And  where  they  have  been  best  under- 
stood and  respected,  and  their  various  relations 
have  been  peaceful  and  happy,  has  the  Bible  dis- 
turbed this  organization,  trampled  on  these  rights 
and  obligations,  and  rendered  men  contentious  and 
miserable  ?  We  are  bold  to  say,  that  an  enlight- 
ened and  honest  answer  to  these  inquiries  will  do 
honour  to  the  Bible.  Where  the  Scriptures  have 
found  men  without  any  social  bonds,  there  they 
have  laid  the  foundations  and  reared  the  super- 
structure of  institutions  that  have  endured  for  ages. 
Where  they  have  found  society  loose  and  dis- 
jointed, and  formed  upon  principles  that  must  en- 
sure its  overthrow ;  there,  as  fast  as  they  could 
exert  their  influence,  have  they,  without  fail,  re- 
duced this  chaos  to  order  and  beauty.  And  where 
they  have  found  it  unrefined  and  impure,  gross  and 


SOCIAL    INSTITUTIONS.  187 

cruel  5  there  have  they,  even  m  the  most  corrupted 
ages  of  Christianity,  silently  effected  a  change  in 
the  social  relations  which  has  gradually  elevated 
the  minds  and  habits  of  men  to  a  visible  and  ac- 
knowledged superiority  over  all  pagan  lands. 

There  seem  to  be  two  sources  from  which  man 
might  of  himself  arrive  at  a  considerable  degree  of 
social  culture  and  enjoyment.  The  first  is  from 
the  invention  of  some  system  of  religion,  which,  by 
superstitiously  influencing  his  fears  and  his  hopes, 
would  restrain  him  from  crime,  and  by  its  imposing 
ceremonies  and  dark  mysteries,  influence  him  to 
virtue.  The  second  is  by  the  careful  cultivation 
of  those  intellectual  faculties  which  God  has  given 
him,  by  the  exercise  of  which  his  more  base  and 
degrading  propensities  may  be  subdued,  and  his 
intellectual  and  moral  nature  be  improved  and  ele- 
vated. But  to  show  how  insufficient  these  are  to 
produce  the  end  in  view,  look  at  the  two  celebrated 
nations  of  antiquity,  which  have  the  most  to  boast 
of  in  these  respects  j  Persia  and  Rome.  The  re- 
ligion of  the  Persians  was  the  purest  of  all  unin- 
spired religions,  and  the  most  calculated  to  elevate 
the  soul.  In  the  heavenly  bodies,  they  worshipped 
their  unknown  author,  and  in  the  two  presiding 
principles  they  sought  an  explanation  of  the  ming- 
ling of  good  and  evil  upon  the  earth, — that  problem 
which  has  so  long  perplexed  and  confounded  un- 
enlightened reason.  But  their  creed,  however  in- 
genious, could  only  exercise  the  intellect,  and 
amuse  the  curiosity  of  its  followers.     It  was  desti- 


188  SOCIAL    INSTITUTIONS. 

tute  of  all  salutary  influence  upon  their  social  re- 
lations. The  history  of  Persia  is  a  compendium  of 
crimes,  suffering  and  intolerance.  A  despot  ruled 
the  state,  and  polygamy,  that  despotism  in  minia- 
ture, gave  law  to  the  private  and  domestic  relations 
of  the  people.  In  all  that  philosophy  and  moral 
culture  alone  can  do  for  the  social  institutions,  an- 
cient Rome  stands  pre-eminent  among  all  nations. 
Their  reHgion  was  indeed  gross  and  peurile  in  the 
extreme,  exercising  an  unhappy  influence  upon  the 
lower  orders,  but  disbelieved  by  the  priests  who 
taught  it,  and  by  the  worshippers  in  secret,  who 
ridiculed  it.  Yet  so  far  as  the  most  ingenious  and 
sublime  speculations  of  their  sages  could  refine  and 
improve  them,  they  were  favoured  beyond  exam- 
ple. Look  then  at  their  history.  In  proportion 
as  their  philosophy  improved,  the  integrity,  the 
purity,  the  happiness  of  their  social  relations  de- 
clined 5  until  the  state  became  the  legalized  organ 
of  oppression  and  cruelty,  the  marriage  bond  the 
pledge  of  encouraged  hcentiousness,  the  domestic 
circle  the  scene  of  terror,  and  that  love  of  country 
for  which  Rome  was  distinguished  in  the  best  days 
of  the  early  republic,  was  extinguished  in  the  blood 
which  flowed  indiscriminately  from  her  friends  and 
her  enemies. 

I  have  anticipated  much  that  might  be  said  in 
regard  to  the  relation  which  exists  between  the 
state  and  its  citizens^  as  these  relations  are  de- 
veloped in  pagan  and  antichristian  countries,  in  the 
lectures  on  the  influence  of  the  Bible  on  human 


SOCIAL    INSTITUTIONS.  189 

laws  and  government.  If  any  man  will  examine 
the  government  of  Rome  from  the  institution  of 
the  regal  government,  to  the  expulsion  of  Tarquin  ; 
from  the  consulship  established  by  Brutus,  to  the 
magistracy  of  the  military  tribunes  5  from  the  usur- 
pation of  Cinna,  to  the  supreme  power  of  Augus- 
tus 5  from  the  empire  of  Augustus,  to  that  of  Nero ; 
from  Nero,  to  Valerian,  and  from  Valerian,  to 
Constantine  j  he  will  see  dissimulation,  revolt,  tu- 
mult, slaughter,  revolution,  despotism,  servitude, 
peace  and  war,  and  where  the  evils  of  peace  were 
not  unfrequently  the  worst  calamities.  Often  was 
that  fair  land  deluged  with  blood  from  the  ambition 
of  rivals  to  the  throne.  And  then  again,  new 
schemes  of  mutual  ambition  would  carry  fire  and 
sword  to  the  remote  and  peaceful  nations,  till  the 
flames  of  civil  war  raged  in  almost  every  part  of 
the  world.  The  resources  of  some  great  mind,  in- 
creased and  irritated  by  his  calamities,  possessing 
all  the  vices  and  none  of  the  virtues  of  his  species, 
would  develope  itself  in  all  its  hideousness,  and 
wreak  its  vengeance  in  atrocities  that  cannot  be 
thought  of  without  horror.  While,  as  often,  elated 
with  success,  and  dazzled  with  the  pomp  and  con- 
sequence of  station,  it  would  again  seek  repose  in 
brutal  indulgence;  or  sanguinary  persecutions.  And 
how  much  better  was  ancient  Greece,  or  Gaul,  or 
Germany,  or  Britain  ?  How  much  better  are  the 
modern  nations  of  paganism,  where  the  power  of 
Christian  lands  does  not  restrain  their  ferocity  ? 
Just  in  the  measure  in  which  the  influence  of 


190  SOCIAL    INSTITUTIONS. 

the  Bible  has  been  extended  to  the  nations,  have 
these  evils  been  diminished,  or  entirely  removed. 
"  The  Spirit  of  the  Lord  spake  by  me,"  says  the 
anointed  king  of  Israel,  "  and  his  word  was  in  my 
tongue.  The  God  of  Israel  said,  the  Rock  of 
Israel  spake  to  me.  He  that  ruleth  over  men 
must  be  just,  ruhng  in  the  fear  of  God:  and  he 
shall  be  as  the  light  of  the  morning,  when  the 
sun  riseth,  even  a  morning  without  clouds  5  as 
the  tender  grass  springing  out  of  the  earth  by 
clear  shining  after  rain."  The  relation  existing 
between  the  State  and  its  citizens,  the  Bible  re- 
cognizes as  of  divine  appointment.  The  foun- 
dation of  civil  government  is  the  will  of  God. 
Life,  liberty,  and  property,  peace  and  order, 
public  morals  and  religion,  have  never  been  left 
by  the  benevolent  author  of  our  social  existence, 
to  chance,  or  anarchy,  or  the  social  compact. 
Government  is  an  ordinance  of  heaven.  "  The 
powers  that  be,  are  ordained  of  God,"  not  for 
their  own  honour  and  aggrandizement,  but  for  the 
good  of  their  subjects — not  to  gratify  the  pride, 
minister  to  the  lusts,  and  subserve  the  ambition 
of  rulers,  but  for  the  tranquillity,  virtue,  and  pros- 
perity of  those  they  govern.  Where,  in  pagan, 
and  Mahometan  lands,  are  rulers  taught  this  im- 
portant and  salutary  lesson  from  any  such  sources 
as  make  them  feel  its  authority,  or  constrain  them 
to  respect  the  rights  of  the  people  ?  Or  where, 
except  in  lands  illumined  by  the  light  of  super- 
natural revelation,  do  the  people,  on  the  one  hand, 


SOCIAL    INSTITUTIONS.  191 

know  and  feel  that  they  have  rights,  and  are 
themselves  clothed  with  the  authority  to  see  that 
they  are  respected  5  or  on  the  other,  know  and 
feel  that  government  is  an  institution  of  heaven  ? 
Christian  princes,  it  is  true,  have  not  always  ex- 
erted the  happy  influence  which  the  God  of  na- 
tions requires  them  to  exert.  Nor  have  Christian 
nations  always  respected  their  rulers,  or  asserted 
their  own  rights  with  firmness,  and  with  the  meek- 
ness of  wisdom.  But  where  have  antichristian 
and  pagan  princes  done  it  ?  And  where  have  pa- 
gan nations,  in  a  single  instance,  been  influenced 
by  any  other  motive  than  the  restive,  factious  de- 
termination to  put  down  one  despot  for  the  sake 
of  elevating  another  ?  But  look  through  Chris- 
tian lands,  and  see  how  often  the  prerogative  of 
the  prince  has  been  limited,  and  the  rights  of  man 
asserted  by  a  free  and  virtuous  people.  Witness 
the  condition  of  England  from  the  time  of  Alfred 
to  the  present  hour.  Witness  the  condition  of 
France,  though  more  often  scourged  by  severe 
persecutions,  from  the  reign  of  Clovis  to  the  ac- 
cession of  Louis  PhilHppe.  Witness  the  triumph 
of  Germany  over  Leo  X.  and  the  fifth  Charles. 
And  witness  our  own  memorable  revolution.  What 
had  been  the  condition  of  this  brave  and  high- 
minded  people  in  those  days  of  peril,  but  for  the 
Bible  ?  And  what  had  been  our  condition  at 
many  a  fearful  crisis  of  our  public  affairs,  since  that 
period,  had  these  American  States  not  been  re- 
strained and  governed  by  the  spirit  of  that  holy 


192  SOCIAL    INSTITUTIONS. 

book  ?  Our  obligations  to  the  religion  of  the 
Bible,  are  not  always,  in  this  respect,  duly  appre- 
ciated. Why  is  it,  that  at  every  popular  elec- 
tion, instead  of  some  petty  broil,  we  are  not  in- 
volved in  oceans  of  blood  ?  It  is  because  there 
is  found,  through  the  blessing  of  Almighty  God,  a 
mass  of  public  virtue,  a  weight  of  moral  principle, — 
virtue  and  principle  founded  on  the  word  of  God, — 
that  subdues  and  restrains  the  "  wrath  of  man." 
Why  is  it,  that  with  every  calamitous  and  disas- 
trous measure  of  our  government,  we  do  not  wit- 
ness the  scenes  that  were  exhibited  in  Rome, 
under  the  reigns  of  Tiberius  and  Nero  ?  It  is 
because  we  have  been  taught  from  the  lips  of  the 
divine  Saviour  himself,  to  "  render  unto  Csesar  the 
things  that  are  Caesar's,  and  unto  God  the  things 
that  are  God's."  It  is  because  his  holy  apostles 
have  given  us  the  injunctions,  "  Let  every  soul  be 
subject  to  the  higher  powers;  submit  yourselves 
to  every  ordinance  of  man  for  the  Lord's  sake." 
It  is  because  we  have  been  taught  to  respect,  and 
reverence,  and  pray  for  our  rulers,  "  that  we  may 
lead  a  quiet  and  peacable  life,  in  all  godliness  and 
honesty  5  knowing  that  this  is  good  and  accepta- 
ble in  the  sight  of  God  our  Saviour."  Such  a 
spirit  constitutes  a  virtuous  community ;  and  with 
such  a  spirit  no  people  can  promote  discord  and 
revolution,  until  "  patience  has  had  its  perfect 
work,"  and  the  last  limits  of  Christian  forbearance 
have  been  far  exceeded.  Who  does  not  see  with 
how  much  more  benevolence  the  Scriptures  con- 


SOCIAL    INSTITUTIONS.  193 

trol  the  relation  between  the  state  and  its  citizens, 
than  any  other  book,  or  any  other  set  of  opinions, 
or  any  other  maxims,  however  high  their  authori- 
ty, or  however  extensively  received  ?  Who  does 
not  see  that  the  crimes  and  sufferings  so  long  at- 
tendant  on  the  administration  of  human  govern- 
ments, would  soon  be  unknown,  and  the  conten- 
tions, revolutions  and  blood  which  have  so  long 
desolated  the  earth  soon  disappear,  if  the  Scrip- 
tures were  once  duly  honoured,  and  the  voice  of 
God  regarded  in  preference  to  the  seductive  influ- 
ence of  aspiring,  designing,  and  corrupting  men  ? 
The  most  important  of  the  all  social  institutions  is 
marriage^ — the  primoeval,  parent  source  of  all  the 
other  relations.  Nor  is  there  any  expression  of 
the  divine  wisdom  in  determining  the  condition  of 
the  human  race,  more  significant  and  delightful 
than  this  sacred  institution.  It  is  by  this  relation, 
that  the  world  we  inhabit  is  constituted  a  collec- 
tion of  families  5  where  the  best  natural  affections 
are  cherished,  and  the  worst  subdued  5  where  there 
is  a  community  of  affections  and  interests;  and 
where  are  the  highest  inducements  to  a  reciprocal 
and  virtuous  influence,  and  especially  in  forming 
the  character  of  the  rising  generation.  The  in^ 
habitants  of  this  esarth  are  not  brought  into  exist- 
ence by  a  single  act  of  creative  power,  such  as 
gave  existence  to  the  angelic  creation.  These 
unfallen  existencies,  with  all  their  shining  hosts, 
and  in  all  the  variety  of  their  rank  and  excellence, 
were  formed  at  once,  and  with  no  successive  de- 

17 


194  SOCIAL    INSTITUTIONS. 

pendance  of  one  generation  upon  that  which  pre- 
ceded it.  Nor  has  there  probably  been  any  in- 
crease, or  diminution  in  their  numbers,  since  that 
early  dawn  of  the  creation,  when  these  "  morning 
stars  sang  together,  and  all  the  sons  of  God  shouted 
for  joy."  And  such  will  be  the  relation  of  the 
"spirits  of  just  men  made  perfect,"  after  the  resur- 
rection. "They  neither  marry,  nor  are  given  in 
marriage,  but  are  as  the  angels  of  God,  in  heaven." 
The  race  of  man,  on  the  other  hand,  is  perpetually 
increasing,  and  the  current  of  human  existencies 
flowing  on,  augmented  by  almost  innumerable  tri- 
butary streams  to  the  end  of  time.  It  required 
more  than  finite  wisdom  so  to  arrange  this  per- 
petually augmenting  population,  as  most  effectually 
to  consult  its  social  interests,  its  honourable,  virtu- 
ous character,  its  immortal  destiny.  And  who 
does  not  see  with  what  admirable  efficiency  these 
ends  may  be  secured,  and  secured  only  by  the 
nuptial  bond  ?  To  test  the  verity  and  importance 
of  this  remark,  let  us  bestow  a  few  considerations 
on  the  methods  by  which  human  society  may  be 
supposed  to  be  organized  and  continued 

The  first  is  by  a  promiscuous  intercourse  of 
the  sexes,  unrestrained  by  any  law,  and  uncon- 
trolled except  by  the  consent  of  the  parties.  Such 
has  been  the  usage  of  a  few  barbarous  lands ;  such 
is  the  doctrine  of  Robert  Dale  Owen  and  other 
modern  reformers  5  and  such  are  the  habits  of  a 
few  gregarious,  anomalous  communities,  even  in 
Christian  countries  at  the  present  day.     From  the 


SOCIAL    INSTITUTIONS.  195 

cradle,  the  sexes  are  taught  that  there  is  no 
barrier  even  in  thought  against  the  most  universal 
indulgence.  And  what  shall  be  said  of  such  a 
society,  but  that  it  is  polluted  and  poisoned  at  its 
fountain  head,  and  a  hideous  mass  of  corruption 
and  rottenness?  There  is  no  moral  safe-guard 
in  such  a  community  to  protect  it  against  the  most 
disastrous  and  desolating  evils  that  can  be  commis- 
sioned to  scourge  its  degraded  and  guilty  inhabi- 
tants. Marriage  is  a  term  of  reproach  5  the  paren- 
tal relation  is  unknown ;  and  the  unhappy  offspring 
of  such  a  concubinage  are  thrown  out  upon  the 
world  with  no  restraints  of  parental  love  and  wis- 
dom, and  no  obligations  of  filial  affection  and 
reverence  5 — monsters  in  crime,  giants  in  iniquity, 
and  in  a  Httle  while,  the  fit  objects  of  such  sweep- 
ing judgments  as  desolated  the  old  world  by  the 
waters  of  the  deluge,  and  the  cities  of  the  plain 
by  a  tempest  of  fire  out  of  heaven. 

Look  then  for  a  moment  at  the  system  of  po- 
lygamy^ under  which  a  man  has  a  plurality  of 
wives.  This  evil  was  indeed  tolerated  among  the 
ancient  patriarchs  and  Hebrews.  But' it  was  a 
perversion  of  the  original  institution  of  marriage. 
"  Moses  suffered  it  for  the  hardness  of  their  hearts ; 
but  from  the  beginning,  it  was  not  so."  All  the 
evils  of  that  early  and  idolatrous  age  of  the  world 
could  not  be  remedied  in  a  moment.  And  such 
was  the  state  of  society,  that  not  even  until  the 
advent  of  the  Saviour  was  the  institution  of  mar- 
riage restored  to  its  primoeval  integrity  by  revok- 


196  SOCIAL    INSTITUTIONS. 

ing  the  permission  of  polygamy  and  divorce.  Ex- 
perience has  abundantly  and  painfully  proved  that 
polygamy  debases  and  brutalizes  both  the  body  and 
the  mind,  and  renders  society  incapable  of  those 
generous  and  refined  affections,  which,  if  duly  cul- 
tivated would  be  found  to  be  the  inheritance  even 
of  our  fallen  nature.  Where  is  an  instance  in 
which  polygamy  has  not  been  the  source  of  many 
and  bitter  calamities  in  the  domestic  circle  and  to 
the  state  ?  Where  has  it  reared  a  virtuous,  heaven- 
taught  progeny  ?  Where  has  it  been  distinguished 
for  any  of  the  moral  virtues  5  or  rather,  where  has 
it  not  been  distinguished  for  the  most  fearful  de- 
generacy of  manners  ?  Where  has  it  even  been 
found  friendly  to  population  ?  It  has  been  reck- 
oned that  the  number  of  male  infants  exceeds  that 
of  females,  in  the  proportion  of  nineteen  to  eigh- 
teen, the  excess  of  the  males  scarcely  providing 
for  their  greater  consumption  by  war,  seafaring, 
and  other  dangerous  and  unhealthy  occupations. 
It  seems  to  have  been  the  "  order  of  nature  that 
one  woman  should  be  assigned  to  one  man."  And 
where  has  polygamy  ever  been  friendly  to  the  phy- 
sical, and  intellectual  character  of  the  population  ? 
The  Turks  are  polygamistsj  and  so  are  the 
Asiatics  5  but  how  inferior  a  people  to  the  ancient 
Greeks  and  Romans  ?  I  spoke  of  the  domestic 
circle  of  the  communities  under  the  influence  of 
polygamy  J  but  is  there  any  thing  worthy  of  the 
name  in  such  countries  ?  Let  the  universal  seclu- 
sion of  females  from  the  eye  of  man,  and  the  un- 


SOCIAL   INSTITUTIONS.  197 

sleeping  jealousy  of  their  husbands  furnish  the 
answer.  What  is  the  domestic  circle,  or  the  so- 
ciety of  friends,  where  the  presence  and  all  sub- 
duing influence  of  woman^  its  brightest  ornament 
and  glory,  is  banished  ? 

"  Hail,  woman,  hail !  last  formed  in  Eden's  bowers, 
Midst  humming  streams  and  fragrant  breathing  flowers, 
Thou  art,  'mid  light  and  gloom,  through  good  and  ill, 
Creator's  glory,  man's  chief  blessing  still. 
Thou  calm'st  our  thoughts,  as  halcyons  calm  the  sea, 
Sooth'st  in  distress,  when  servile  minions  flee  ; 
And  O  without  thy  sun-bright  smiles  below, 
Life  were  a  night,  and  earth  a  waste  of  wo." 

I  am  not  extensively  acquainted  with  the  domestic 
condition  either  of  Turkey,  or  Persia,  nor  have  I 
been  able  to  find  access  to  those  sources  of  infor- 
mation which  I  have  desired ;  but  if  the  few  his- 
torical notices  of  some  of  the  royal  families  of  these 
countries,  which  have  met  my  eye,  are  a  faithful 
index  to  the  evils  of  polygamy,  it  is  among  the  most 
fruitful  sources  of  misery  and  crime.  What  can 
be  expected  from  a  system,  where  woman  fades  at 
twenty,  is  decayed  at  thirty,  and  before  five  and 
thirty  sinks  to  her  grave  ? 

Look  now  at  that  modification  and  combination 
of  the  two  preceding  systems  which  is  found  in 
those  countries  where  the  nuptial  relation  is  only 
temporary,  and  where,  while  the  promiscuous  inter- 
course of  the  sexes  and  a  plurality  of  wives  is  in- 
terdicted, the  frequency   of  divorces  opens  the 

17* 


198  SOCIAL    INSTITTIIIONS. 

door  to  the  most  unbridled  licentiousness.  In  an- 
cient Rome,  the  matrimonial  institution  was  re- 
garded as  a  mere  civil  contract,  established  for  pur- 
poses of  convenience  and  expediency,  protected  du- 
ring its  continuance  by  the  civil  magistrate  because 
it  was  deemed  a  blessing  to  society,  and  by  the  law 
of  the  Twelve  Tables,  continued  only  during  the 
pleasure  of  the  husband.  The  sober  and  well  at- 
tested fact  in  relation  to  this  arrangement  is,  that 
in  all  those  countries  where  polygamy  was  not  tol- 
erated, the  frequent  and  rapid  succession  of  divor- 
ces and  marriages  took  the  place  of  polygamy  and 
introduced  all  its  evils.  Especially  was  this  the 
case  in  Rome.  A  glance  at  the  history  of  that 
nation  will  render  us  sensible  of  this.  Such  was 
the  facility  of  obtaining  divorces  among  the  Ro- 
mans, that  the  nuptial  tie  offered  not  the  slightest 
resistance  to  motives  of  ambition,  avarice,  or  ir- 
regulated  passion.  The  private  history  of  women 
of  the  first  rank  is  but  a  succession  of  marriages 
and  divorces  j  each  new  marriage  yielding  to  one 
more  recent,  with  the  same  readiness  with  which 
itself  had  displaced  a  former  union.  Perhaps  it 
may  be  thought  out  of  place  to  enumerate  exam- 
ples of  this  nature  j  and  yet  nothing  else  can  give 
us  a  just  conception  of  the  extent  of  the  evil.  Oc- 
tavia,  the  daughter  of  the  emperor  Claudius,  mar- 
ried Nero,  and  was  repudiated  by  him  for  the  sake 
of  Poppaea.  Poppsea  herself  was  first  married  to 
Rufus  Crispinus  5  then  to  Otho  5  and  at  length  to 
Nero,  by  whom  she  was  killed  by  a  violent  blow 


SOCIAL    INSTITUTIONS.  199 

and  at  a  period  when  the  trials  of  her  sex  shotild 
have  been   her   protection.      For  his  third  wife, 
Nero  married  Thessahna,  and  to  possess  her  per- 
son, murdered  her  husband.     Juha,  the  daughter 
of  Augustus,  was  married  first  to  Marcellus,  then 
to  Agrippa,  and  then  to  Tiberius.     Livia  Oristella 
was  on  the  eve  of  a  marriage  with  Caius  Piso,  when 
Cahgula,  enamoured  of  her  beauty,  carried  her  off 
by  force,  and  in  a  few  days  after,  repudiated  her. 
Marc  Antony,  who  was  married  to  Octavia,  the 
sister  of  Augustus,  repudiated  Octavia,  because  he 
was  in  love  with  Cleopatra.     Such  examples  you 
will  find  almost  endlessly  diversified  in  the  Annals 
of  Tacitus.     The  extent  to  which  this  licence  was 
carried  may  be  also  learned  from  the  poet  Martial, 
who  tells  us,  that  when  the  Julian  law  against  adul- 
tery was  revived  as  a  preventive  to  the  corruption 
of  the  age,  within  thirty  days  Thessalina  married 
her  tenth  husband,  thus  legally  evading  those  re- 
straints which  the  laws   had   imposed  upon   her 
Hcentiousness.     What  is  the  marriage  bond  worth 
in  such  a  state  of  society  ?     And  where  is  the  state 
of  society  essentially  better  than  this  without  the 
Bible  ?     It  can  hardly  be  said  there  is  any  such 
thing  as  social  institutions  where  the  nuptial  vow 
is  the  sport  of  every  caprice  and  passion,  and  where 
it  is  violated  without  penalty,  and  even  without  re- 
morse and  shame. 

And  now  let  us  turn,  as  from  a  dry  and  parched 
desert  to  a  fruitful  land,  from  this  disgusting  sur- 
vey, and   see  in  how  different  a  light  the  Bible 


200  SOCIAL    INSTITUTIONS. 

considers  the  matrimonial  relation  from  that  in 
which  it  is  viewed  by  Pagan  and  Mahometan 
lands,  and  by  unbelievers  in  divine  revelation  in 
lands  that  are  Christian.  This  sacred  Book  re- 
gards it  as  a  religious  institution  5  as  owing  its 
origin,  not  to  earth,  but  to  heaven,  not  to  the  light 
of  nature,  but  to  a  divine  command  5  as  an  insti- 
tution established  by  the  Creator  himself  immedi- 
ately after  the  formation  of  man,  and  subsequently 
put  under  the  protection  of  his  law.  It  inscribes 
in  deep  legible  characters  on  every  nuptial  altar, 
"What  God  hath  joined  together,  let  not  man 
put  asunder!"  It  explicitly  defines  marriage  to 
be  the  act  of  uniting  two  persons  in  wedlock  and 
only  two.  "  For  this  cause  shall  a  man  leave  his 
father  and  mother,  and  cleave  unto  his  wife,  and 
they  twain  shall  be  one  flesh."  The  degrees  of 
consanguinity  within  which  this  union  is  lawful 
are  not  left  to  the  judgment  of  fallible  men,  but  in 
the  institutions  of  the  inspired  legislator  of  the 
Hebrews,  are  marked  with  perfect  definiteness. 
And  when  once  formed,  the  Bible  pronounces  this 
connection  a  perpetual  union,  and  to  be  dissolved 
only  by  crime,  or  death.  "  The  woman  that  hath 
an  husband  is  bound  by  the  law  to  her  husband, 
so  long  as  he  liveth  j  but  if  her  husband  be  dead, 
she  is  losed  from  the  law  of  her  husband."  And 
with  what  tenderness,  does  it  prescribe  the  recip- 
rocal duties  of  this  relation !  "  Husbands  love 
your  wives," — not  according  to  the  maxims  of  a 
cold  and  changing  philosophy — not  after  the  fash- 


SOCIAL    INSTITUTIONS.  201 

ion  of  this  world, — but ''  as  Christ  loved  the  Church. 
Wives  submit  yourselves  unto  your  own  husbands, 
as  unto  the  Lord  5  for  the  husband  is  the  head  of 
the  wife,  even  as  Christ  is  the  head  of  the  Church." 
Who  that  has  seen  heedless  and  frequent  infringe- 
ments upon  these  precepts,  has  not  seen  the  wis- 
dom of  them  in  the  disastrous  consequences  of 
their  own  folly, — not  merely  upon  the  peace,  and 
harmony,  and  mutual  confidence  that  ought  al- 
ways to  distinguish  this  happy  relation — not  mere- 
ly upon  their  own  respectability  and  influence  in 
the  Church  and  in  the  world — ^but  upon  the  cha- 
racter and  conduct  of  their  children  ?  Rarely 
can  you  find  affectionate  children,  where  there  is 
an  unkind  husband  5  or  dutiful  children,  where 
there  is  an  undutiful  wife.  And  how  solemnly  do 
the  Scriptures  protect  the  sanctity  of  the  marriage 
vow !  God  required  that  the  adulterer  and  adul- 
tress  should  be  punished  with  death.  He  aflSrms 
before  the  world,  ^'  Whoremongers  and  adulterers, 
God  will  judge."  With  an  emphasis  never  to  be 
forgotten,  he  demands,  "  Know  ye  not  that  ye  are 
the  temple  of  God,  and  that  the  Spirit  of  God 
dwelleth  in  you  ?  If  any  man  defile  the  temple  of 
God,  him  shall  God  destroy  ?"  Nothing  but  the 
Bible  can  set  bounds  to  human  licentiousness. 
There  is  a  place  of  which  the  unerring  voice  of 
inspiration  has  said,  "He  knoweth  not  that  the 
dead  are  there,  and  that  her  guests  are  in  the 
depths  of  hell."  There  is  a  character  of  which 
the  same  unerring  voice  declares,  "  None  that  go 


W2  SOCIAL    INSTITUTIONS. 

unto  her  return  again,  neither  take  they  hold  of 
the  paths  of  Hfe."  There  is  a  sin  of  which  this 
Book  of  God  often  speaks,  but  on  which  it  rarely 
expatiates — a  sin  which  the  pure  and  holy  Author 
of  the  Bible  does  no  more  than  significantly  indi- 
cate with  the  one  hand,  while  with  the  other  he 
opens  to  its  obdurate  and  groveUing  perpetrator 
the  doors  of  the  eternal  prison,  and  points  to  the 
"  lake  which  burns  with  fire." 

In  speaking  of  the  social  institutions,  we  may 
not  forget  how  much  the  Bible  has  done  for  wo- 
man. The  condition  of  woman  was  more  exalted 
in  Rome  than  it  ever  has  been  to  my  knowledge 
in  any  land  where  the  day  spring  from  on  high 
has  not  visited  her.  The  nations  of  the  east  have 
kept  her  in  a  state  of  ignorance  and  slavery. 
Among  the  Greeks,  she  occupied  a  very  inferior 
sphere  j  so  that  if  she  was  restrained  from  evil,  she 
was  helpless  to  do  good.  While  the  laws  of 
Rome,  on  the  other  hand,  allowed  her  greater  li- 
berty and  consideration  than  she  had  heretofore 
enjoyed,  still  was  the  sex  without  those  restraints 
of  morality  and  purity  which  alone  can  preserve 
her  from  degradation.  No  happy  influence  did 
she  exert  upon  the  public,  or  private  welfare  of  the 
state.  Her  influence  ascended  to  ambition ;  poli- 
ticians intrigued  with  her  5  and  her  liberty  degen- 
erated into  licentiousness.  The  former  deluged 
the  streets  of  the  capital  with  its  best  blood  5  and 
to  such  an  extent  was  the  latter  carried,  that 
among    the    several   decrees    which   passed    the 


SOCIAL    INSTITUTIONS.  203 

senate,  under  the  reign  of  Tiberius,  against  the 
licentiousness  of  female  manners,  it  was  ordained 
"  that  no  woman  whose  grandfather,  or  father,  or 
husband  was  a  Roman  Knight,  should  be  allowed 
to  make  her  person  venal !"  The  laws  of  a  nation 
are  a  faithful  and  instructive  history  of  its  manners. 
And  what  must  have  been  the  corruption  of  fe- 
male manners  in  Rome,  when  such  a  law  was  ne- 
cessary to  suppress  female  Hcentiousness  in  the 
highest  ranks  of  society  ?  If  such  was  the  cha- 
racter of  a  Roman  baronness,  what  must  have 
been  that  of  the  subordinate  classes  ?  There  can 
scarcely  be  a  more  degrading  view  of  woman  than 
this,  unless  it  be  the  condition  which  she  now  pre- 
sents in  pagan  lands.  And  what  is  that  condition, 
now,  in  the  nineteenth  century  of  the  Christian 
era  ?  Hated  and  despised  from  her  birth,  and  her 
birth  itself  esteemed  a  calamity — in  some  coun- 
tries not  even  allowed  the  rank  of  a  moral  and 
responsible  agent — so  tenderly  alive  to  her  own 
degradation,  that  she  acquiesces  in  the  murder  of 
her  female  offspring — immured  from  infancy — with- 
out education — married  without  her  consent — in  a 
multitude  of  instances,  sold  by  her  parents — re- 
fused the  confidence  of  her  husband,  and  banished 
from  his  table — on  her  husband's  death,  doomed  to 
the  funeral  pile,  or  to  contempt  that  renders  life  a 
burden : — such  is  her  degraded  and  pitiable  condi- 
tion, in  almost  all  except  Christian  lands.  The 
Bible  has  an  appropriate  place  for  woman,  a  place 
for  which  she  is  fitted  and  in  which  she  shines.    It 


204  SOCIAL   INSTITUTIONS. 

elevates  her,  but  assigns  her  her  proper  sphere.  It 
does  indeed  exclude  her  from  the  corruption  of 
the  camp  and  the  debates  of  the  forum.  It  does 
not  invite  her  to  the  professor's  chair,  nor  conduct 
her  to  the  bar,  nor  make  her  welcome  to  the  pul- 
pit, nor  admit  her  to  the  place  of  magistracy.  It 
bids  her  beware  how  she  overleaps  the  delicacy 
of  her  sex,  and  listens  to  the  doctrines  of  effemi- 
nate debaters,  or  becomes  the  dupe  of  modern  re- 
formers and  fashionable  journalists.  It  asks  not  to 
hear  her  gentle  voice  in  the  popular  assembly,  and 
even  '•''suffers  her  not  to  sjyeak  in  the  Church  of 
God.''"'  It  claims  not  for  her  the  right  of  suffrage, 
nor  any  immunity  by  which  she  may  "  usurp  au- 
thority over  the  man."  And  yet  it  gives  her  her 
throne  5  for  she  is  the  queen  of  the  domestic  cir- 
cle. It  is  the  bosom  of  her  family.  It  is  the  heart 
of  her  husband  and  children.  It  is  the  supremacy 
in  all  that  interesting  domain,  where  love,  and  ten- 
derness, and  refinement  of  thought  and  feeling  pre- 
side. It  is  the  privilege  of  making  her  husband  hap- 
py and  honoured,  and  her  sons  and  her  daughters 
the  ornaments  of  human  society.  It  is  the  sphere 
of  piety,  prudence,  diligence  in  the  domestic  sta- 
tion, and  a  holy  and  devout  life.  It  is  the  sphere 
that  was  occupied  by  Hannah,  the  mother  of 
Samuel  5  by  Ehzabeth,  the  mother  of  John  5  and 
by  Mary,  the  mother  of  Jesus.  It  is  "  the  orna- 
ment of  a  meek  and  quiet  spirit,  which,  in  the 
sight  of  God,  is  of  great  price."  It  is  the  respect 
and  esteem  of  mankind.     It  is  that  silent,  unob- 


SOCIAL   INSTITUTIONS.  205 

served,  unobtrusive  influence  by  which  she  accom- 
plishes more  for  her  race  than  many  whose  names 
occupy  a  broad  space  on  the  page  of  history. 
More  than  this,  too,  does  the  Bible  do  for  woman. 
It  opens  to  her  the  stores  of  knowledge.  It  pro- 
scribes her  no  intellectual  advancement.  It  com- 
mits to  her  intelligent  culture  the  minds  of  the 
rising  generation.  It  tells  her  that  her  peculiar 
province  is  to  embellish  and  adorn.  It  opens  be- 
fore her  the  loveliest  spheres  of  active  benevolence. 
And  while  it  tells  her  to  be  a  "  keeper  at  home," 
it  at  the  same  time  points  her  to  the  poor,  the 
afflicted,  the  widow,  the  orphan,  the  sick  and  the 
dying,  and  says,  "  Pure  religion  and  undefiled  be- 
fore God  and  the  Father,  is  to  visit  the  fatherless 
and  widows  in  their  afflictions,  and  to  keep  herself 
unspotted  from  the  world."  It  does  more  for  her 
than  for  the  stronger  sex,  because  it  gives  her 
more  piety  than  it  gives  to  pious  men  5  more  ar- 
dency and  devotion  in  her  religious  affections  5 
more  numerous,  as  well  as  more  illustrious  exam- 
ples of  converting  grace ;  a  greater  reward,  and  a 
brighter  crown.  Nor  can  she  ever  know  what 
she  owes  to  the  Bible,  until  she  is  presented  by 
her  great  Lord  and  husband,  faultless  before  the 
throne. 

But  let  us  turn  a  moment  to  another  of  the  so- 
cial relations :  I  mean  that  which  exists  between 
parents  and  children.  I  have  often  wondered 
why  there  are  so  few  scenes  of  domestic  joy  painted 
in  pagan  history  5  and  whence  it  is  that  we  never 

18 


206  SOCIAL    INSTITUTIONS. 

find  access  lo  the  bosom  of  a  well  regulated  and 
happy  family  in  pagan  lands.  May  not  the  reason 
be  that  the  materials  for  the  picture  never  existed  ? 
Pagan  historians  there  were,  of  a  high  standard  of 
excellence  5  and  pagan  poets,  whose  classical  sub- 
limity and  beauty  it  would  be  treason  to  the  cause 
of  a  polished  and  elegant  literature  to  question. 
But  their  themes  are  conflict  and  revolution  5  dei- 
fied heroes  and  heroines  5  a  base  and  corrupting 
mythology  5  the  beauties  and  tranquiUity  of  pasto- 
ral life ;  or  the  passion  of  a  shepherd  for  some 
beautiful  boy.  Though  many  of  the  pagan  poets 
maintain  the  first  rank  of  excellence,  and  abound 
with  imagery  that  might  naturally  have  found  cul- 
ture and  ahment  amid  the  more  virtuous  and  lovely 
scenes  of  domestic  joy,  yet  do  these  scenes  seem, 
even  to  their  poHshed  minds,  to  be  almost  inter- 
dicted themes.  Before  the  introduction  of  Chris- 
tianity, there  was  a  strong  tendency  to  sacrifice  the 
domestic  to  a  more  public  life.  The  citizen  of 
Rome  and  Athens  was  distinguished,  not  for  his 
domestic  virtues,  but  for  his  literary  attainments 
and  his  public  valor.  He  employed  his  life  in  the 
field,  in  the  academy,  or  in  the  forum,  but  found 
little  to  interest  him  at  home.  He  lived  abroad 
amid  the  alluring  example  of  a  licentious  world ; 
he  threw  himself  into  the  current  of  its  seductive 
temptations  5  but  rarely  found  interest  and  happi- 
ness in  the  society  of  his  children.  Home  was  a 
word  dissevered  from  all  those  high  and  holy  asso- 
ciations, inseparable  from  it  in  a  Christian  family. 


SOCIAL   INSTITUTIONS.  207 

He  was  known  rather  as  a  citizen,  than  as  a  father, 
a  son,  a  friend.  He  had  indeed  his  household  gods, 
his  altar  and  his  fireside  ;  but  he  had  no  voice  of 
supplication  and  praise — no  bond  of  God's  eternal 
covenant  sealing  blessing  to  him  and  to  his  for  a 
great  while  to  Come.  In  ancient  Rome,  under  the 
emperors,  it  was  even  considered  an  advantage  to 
be  without  children  5  and  fathers  often  renounced 
them  for  the  estimation  and  flattery  which  were 
showered  upon  them  by  those  who  might  be  ex- 
pectants of  their  inheritance.  More  than  once  has 
an  affluent  citizen  proved  too  powerful  for  his  ac- 
cusers, simply  because  he  was  childless.  And  it 
was  no  strange  occurrence  for  children  as  fre- 
quently to  become  the  accusers,  as  the  advocates 
of  a  father,  and  as  ready  to  destroy,  as  to  protect 
him  against  his  enemies.  A  father  pleading  for  his 
life,  while  his  son  stands  forth  his  accuser — what  a 
scene  were  this  in  Christian  lands  !  Nero  poisoned 
his  mother  *,  and  Seneca,  one  of  the  wisest  and  best 
of  the  heathen  philosophers  was  accessory  to  the 
base  transaction.  Where  in  all  the  annals  of 
Christendom,  is  registered  so  foul  a  deed !  Men 
never  sin  so  obstinately,  as  when  they  sin  from 
principle.  And  even  at  the  present  day,  it  is 
deemed  a  reHgious  duty  in  pagan  lands,  for  parents 
to  destroy  their  children  5  and,  as  though  God  had 
with  awful  severity  inflicted  the  legem  talionis^  in 
return,  for  children  to  destroy  their  parents. 

But  see  how  the  Scriptures  speak  of  this  rela- 
tion.    Mark  how  they  honour  and  protect  it,  and 


208  SOCIAL    INSTITUTIONS. 

how  they  define  and  enforce  its  corresponding 
rights  and  duties.  To  the  parent  they  say,  "  Train 
up  a  child  in  the  way  he  should  go,  and  when  he 
is  old  he  will  not  depart  from  it."  To  the  child 
they  say,  "  Honour  thy  father  and  thy  mother,  that 
thy  days  may  be  long  in  the  land  which  the  Lord 
thy  God  giveth  thee."  To  the  parent  they  say, 
"  And  ye  fathers  provoke  not  your  your  children 
to  wrath,  lest  they  be  discouraged."  To  the  child 
they  say,  and  in  language  never  to  be  forgotten, 
"  The  eye  that  mocketh  at  his  father,  and  refuseth 
to  obey  his  mother,  the  ravens  of  the  valley  shall 
pick  it  out,  and  the  young  eagles  shall  eat  it." 
Under  the  Mosaic  law,  the  man  that  cursed  his 
parent  was  surely  to  he  put  to  death  j  the  men 
of  his  city  "  should  stone  him  with  stones,  that  he 
die."  The  whole  scope  and  spirit  of  the  Bible 
consider  the  appropriate  performance  of  the  rela- 
tive duties  w^hich  result  from  the  relation  of  parent 
and  child  as  laying  the  foundation  of  every  private 
and  public  virtue.  They  recoil  from  the  arbitrary 
power  and  cruel  tyranny  of  a  parent,  and  from  the 
hardened  impiety  and  obstinate  stubbornness  of  a 
child.  The  Spartans  venerated  age  5  but  how 
much  more  energetic  and  authoritative  is  the  Ian 
guage  of  the  Jewish  lawgiver  when  he  says,  "  Thou 
shalt  rise  up  before  the  face  of  the  hoary  head,  and 
honour  the  face  of  the  old  man,  and  fear  thy  God." 
Have  my  youthful  readers  been  instructed  by  ex- 
ample, by  precept,  by  unsleeping  vigilance  and  un- 
wearied  effort,  and  by  a  discipline  equitable  and 


SOCIAL   INSTITUTIONS.  209 

kind,  in  habits  of  virtue  5  have  their  minds  been  en- 
lightened and  their  wants  supphed  5  and  are  they 
conscious  that  it  has  been  the  united  aim  of  their 
parents  by  their  self-denial,  their  counsels  and 
prayers  to  render  them  religious,  useful  and  happy  5 
permit  me  to  remind  them,  they  owe  this  distinc- 
tion to  the  Bible.  And  where  is  the  parent  who 
is  surrounded  with  the  tokens  of  filial  piety,  and 
whose  heart  has  been  habitually  comforted  by  all 
that  is  tender  and  grateful  in  the  affections,  and 
respectful  and  dutiful  in  the  deportment  of  his 
children,  but  feels  that  for  all  this  he  is  indebted 
to  the  same  divine  source  ?  There  is  a  beautiful 
incident  in  the  life  of  Christ,  which  illustrates  the 
influence  of  the  gospel  upon  domestic  life.  It  was 
among  those  last  sublime  and  tender  exhibitions  of 
his  nature  which  took  place  upon  the  cross.  For- 
giveness, love,  and  resignation  had  already  beamed 
divinely  through  the  horrors  of  that  scene,  and  at- 
tracted the  eye  of  the  believer  to  a  picture  where 
otherwise  all  was  so  sad  and  revolting.  The  Saviour 
was  in  his  bitterest  agony.  The  guilt  of  dying  men 
was  weighing  upon  his  soul  5  interests  incalculably 
vast  were  absorbing  his  attention,  and  he  might 
well  be  supposed  to  have  lost  sight  of  those  by 
whom  he  was  surrounded.  In  such  an  hour,  and 
amid  the  depths  of  his  own  sorrow,  who  would 
wonder  had  he  overlooked  the  claims  of  earthly 
kindred !  But  at  a  little  distance  stood  his  mother. 
Near  her,  he  beheld  the  youngest  and  best  beloved 
of  his  disciples.     Those  earthly  ties  were  about  to 

18* 


210  SOCIAL   INSTITUTIONS. 

be  sundered,  and  he  would  not  leave  her  without  a 
support  to  her  advancing  years,  nor  the  young  dis- 
ciple without  a  guide  for  his  inexperienced  youth. 
"  Woman,"  said  he  to  the  first,  '^  behold  thy  son  !" 
To  the  latter,  "  Son,  behold  thy  mother !  And 
from  that  hour,  that  disciple  took  her  to  his  own 
home." 

The  history  of  pagan  nations  is  an  instructive 
study,  though  it  is  little  else  than  a  narrative  of 
crime.  It  teaches  us  how  helpless  man  is  to  guide 
himself  in  the  path  of  virtue  and  happiness  by  his 
own  unaided  powers.  It  teaches  us  how  much 
we  are  indebted  to  the  Bible  5  how  much  of  our 
social  advantages  we  owe  to  its  pure  spirit  which 
has  breathed  over  the  chaos  of  nations,  and 
brought  order,  light,  beauty  and  fruitfulness  from 
the  shapeless  void.  It  teaches  us  to  be  thankful 
that  "  the  lines  are  fallen  to  us  in  pleasant  places," 
where  the  endeared  names  of  husband,  wife,  parent, 
child,  speak  with  a  tenderness  to  our  hearts  which 
we  cannot  appreciate,  unless  we  have  traced  in 
the  history  of  the  past,  how  little  these  ties  have 
been  valued.  No  author  sets  this  in  a  stronger 
light,  than  Tacitus  in  his  Annals  of  the  Roman 
Empire.  The  hand  of  that  masterly  historian 
must  have  trembled  as  he  delineated  the  picture. 
There  you  will  find  a  narrative  of  all  that  can 
shock  the  tenderest  sensibilities  of  our  nature  j  all 
that  man  can  perpetrate  in  crime  5  all  that  the 
arch  enemy  can  bring  up  from  his  dark  kingdom 
to  disturb   and   ruin.     Suspicion,   massacre,   and 


SOCIAL    INSTITUTIONS.  211 

licentiousness — the  conspiracy  of  wives  against 
their  husbands,  and  husbands  against  their  wives — 
men  every  where  faUing  upon  their  own  sword — 
famihes  whose  peace  is  disturbed  by  violence  and 
ruined  by  intrigue — children  sacrificed  by  the 
machinations  of  a  mother — the  wife  murdering 
her  husband  for  the  purpose  of  wedding  her  para- 
mour— women  "  practised  in  the  trade  of  poison- 
ing"— this  is  paganism  and  in  the  most  enlightened 
age  of  Rome.  But  it  is  not  Christianity.  Let  a 
man  compare  the  present  state  of  society  in  Pro- 
testant countries  with  the  state  of  society  under 
the  dynasty  of  the  Ceesars,  and  he  cannot  fail  to 
see  what  the  Bible  has  done  for  the  social  institu- 
tions. Let  him  go  into  the  interior  of  the  first 
and  most  polished  famiUes  in  Rome,  and  he  will 
bless  God  for  a  supernatural  revelation.  Let  him 
mark  the  diflference  with  which  the  social  relations 
are  regarded  by  the  wisest  and  most  virtuous  of 
pagan  moralists,  and  a  well  instructed  Christian 
teacher  j  let  him  see  how  in  Christian  lands,  they 
bear  the  test  of  experience,  and  endure  the  proof 
of  trials — how  the  spirit  that  sustains  them  grows 
cold  only  in  death,  and  is  extinguished  only  in 
the  grave  5  and  then  let  him  go  into  lands  unen- 
lightened by  the  gospel,  and  observe  how  the 
sweetest  charities  of  life  are  destroyed  by  the 
suspicions  of  envy,  the  jealousies  of  love,  the  vio- 
lence of  ambition,  the  thirst  for  power,  and  at  best 
decay  when  the  flower  of  beauty  and  the  graces 
of  youth  are  gone  5  and  he  will  adore  the  Father 


212  SOCIAL    INSTITUTIONS. 

of  mercies  for  that  blessed  Book  "  more  to  be  de- 
sired than  gold,  yea  than  much  fine  gold. 

And  yet  are  there  those  who  would  have  us  be- 
lieve that  the  religion  of  the  Bible  is  a  morose  and 
unsocial  religion.  If  to  have  no  sympathy  with 
wickedness  is  to  be  unsocial,  then  is  it  an  unsocial 
religion  j  but  if  to  promote  all  that  is  kind  and 
virtuous,  and  pure  and  true, — if  to  take  pleasure 
in  all  that  subdues  what  is  malignant  and  ferocious, 
what  is  ambitious  and  cruel — if  to  sympathize  with 
all  that  elevates  and  transforms  the  human  cha- 
racter and  makes  it  the  ornament  of  human  socie- 
ty here,  and  the  glory  of  angelic  society  hereafter, 
be  social ;  then  is  it  truly  and  in  the  highest  de- 
gree friendly  to  social  institutions.  There  cannot 
be  a  more  gross  misconception  than  that  the  reli- 
gion of  the  Scriptures  is  an  unsocial  religion. 
Every  where  it  inculcates  the  gentle  and  kind  af- 
fections. If  there  be  softness,  sweetness,  cheerful- 
ness and  honour  in  the  intercourse  between  man 
and  man,  to  what  are  they  to  be  attributed,  if  not 
to  the  power  of  that  heaven-born  "  charity,  which 
suffereth  long  and  is  kind,  which  envieth  not, 
which  vaunteth  not  itself,  and  is  not  puffed  up ;" 
which  "  doth  not  behave  itself  unseemly,  and  seek- 
eth  not  her  own  5"  which  "  beareth  all  things,  be- 
lieveth  all  things,  hopeth  all  things  5"  without 
which  we  "are  become  as  sounding  brass,  or  a 
tinkling  cymbal!"  We  see  not  how  an  unsocial 
spirit  can  spring  from  such  a  source.  And  yet  so 
it  is,  that  the  Bible  is  made  to  answer  for  all  the 


SOCIAL    INSTITUTIONS.  213 

moroseness  and  severity  in  the  world,  when  it  is 
known  to  enjoin  all  that  is  benevolent  and  cheerful 
in  the  social  affections.  Let  every  Christian  man 
therefore  bear  in  mind,  that  the  Bible,  with  won- 
derful wisdom,  adjusts  its  claims  to  the  relations 
which  men  sustain  to  time  as  well  as  eternity  5  to 
this  world,  as  well  as  the  world  to  comej  and  that 
it  is  one  of  the  distinguished  glories  of  its  religion, 
that  while  it  lives  above  the  world,  and  walks  with 
God,  instead  of  retiring  from  earth  and  renouncing 
the  intercourse  of  social  life,  it  carries  its  disciples 
into  the  midst  of  human  society  to  purify,  reform, 
and  elevate  it,  and  there  "  let  their  light  so  shine 
before  men,  that  they  seeing  their  good  works, 
may  glorify  their  Father  which  is  in  heaven." 


LECTURE  VIII. 


THE  INFLUENCE  OF  THE  BIBLE  UPON  SLAVERY. 


While  treating  of  the  influence  of  the  Bible 
upon  the  Social  Institutions,  there  is  one  subject 
we  cannot  pass  over  in  silence,  notwithstanding 
the  difficulties  attending  it.  I  allude  to  the  rela- 
tion existing  between  master  and  slave.  The  dif- 
ficulties are  intrinsic,  growing  out  of  the  subject 
itself,  as  well  as  the  enterprise  and  character  of 
the  age.  At  the  present  day,  and  in  the  present 
condition  of  our  country,  it  is  a  subject  of  great 
importance ;  and  it  becomes  every  one  in  forming 
his  judgment  concerning  it,  to  turn  to  that  sacred 
book  in  which  we  profess  to  find  a  guide  and  in- 
structor, and  submit  his  opinions  to  the  unerring 
decisions  of  the  oracles  of  God.  I  do  not  know 
that  I  have  any  personal  interest  in  giving  a  per- 
verted, or  partial  view  of  this  vexed  question.  In- 
deed I  find  it  no  easy  matter  to  take  such  a  view 


SLAVERY.  215 

of  it,  as  satisfies  my  own  mind.     The  Bible  is  the 
fountain  from  which  we  are  to  draw,  not  only  our 
religious   doctrines,  but   our   rules   of  duty.     "I 
have   always   observed,"   said   an  able   and   wise 
divine,  "  that  when  people  become  better  than  the 
Bible,  they  are  very  apt  to  be  wrong."     We  cer- 
tainly cannot  depend  upon  the  reasonings  of  men, 
however  plausible  their  arguments,  as  we  may  de- 
pend upon  the  decisions  of  God.     All  our  notions 
of  property,  all  our  abstract  reasonings  upon  the 
rights  of  man  and  his  natural  freedom  and  equality, 
all  our  principles  of  moral  science  and  in  all  their 
varied  applications,  must  be  ultimately  brought  to 
the  infallible  standard  revealed  from  heaven.    God 
is  our  teacher.     It  is  not  for  man  to  sit  in  judg- 
ment upon  any  of  the  truths  which  he  has  made 
known.     "God  never  left  his  works  for  man  to 
mend."     His  wisdom  is  unerring  5  nor  is  there  any 
greater  presumption  than  for  us  to  refuse  to  make 
the  Bible  the  standard  of  our  duty,  and  be  satisfied 
with  that  standard.     Have  we  a  written  communi- 
cation from  heaven,  whose  author  is  a  being  of 
universal  charity,  boundless  knowledge,  and  eter- 
nal truth  ?     Then  from  this  source,  and  this  source 
alone,  are  we  bound  to  derive  our  opinions  and 
our  instructions  on  every  subject  on  which  it  ad- 
dresses us.     Not  more  truly  "  would  an  infidel  be 
labouring  in  his  vocation"  in  charging  errors  upon 
the  inspired  penmen  of  this  sacred  book,  than  in 
relying  upon  his  own  reason  as  the  ultimate  stand- 
ard of  moral  duty,  and  in  taking  upon  himself  to 


216  SLAVERY. 

teach  the  inspired  writers,  rather  than  suffer  them 
to  teach  him.  It  is  an  unhappiness  that  the  pub- 
He  mind  is  in  such  a  state  of  febrile  excitement  in 
relation  to  slavery,  that  it  is  difficult  to  speak  the 
whole  truth  in  relation  to  this  subject  without 
giving  offence.  But  we  may  not  forget,  that  this 
state  of  feeling  has  nothing  to  do  with  our  appli- 
cation of  the  great  principles  of  moral  duty  as 
revealed  from  heaven.  It  decides  nothing  5  is 
variable  and  fluctuating ;  while  truth  and  duty,  as 
God  has  revealed  them,  remain  the  same. 

Slavery  has  been  defined  by  Dr.  Paley,  to  be, 
''  the  obligation  to  labour  for  the  benefit  of  the 
master,  without  the  contract,  or  consent  of  the 
servant."  This  relation  has  existed  in  a  great 
variety  of  forms,  and  degrees  of  severity.  Very 
often  it  has  been  a  condition  marked  by  injustice 
and  cruelty,  attended  with  no  adequate  remunera- 
tion for  labour,  great  civil  disabilities  and  personal 
suffering,  great  domestic  wrongs,  and  great  intel- 
lectual and  moral  degradation.  And  there  are 
instances,  as  facts  show,  in  which  it  has  existed  un- 
accompanied by  any  of  these  evils.  These  are 
evils  that  have  been  wickedly  superinduced  by  the 
cruelty  and  cupidity  of  men,  rather  than  evils 
which  necessarily  and  essentially  belong  to  the 
relation  itself 

Long  before  the  Bible  was  given  to  the  world, 
slavery  had  an  extensive  prevalence  throughout 
the  oriental  nations.  So  far  from  introducing  the 
evil,  it  found  the  earth  filled  with  it,  and  has  silently 


SLAVERY.  217 

and  gradually  so  meliorated  the  relation  between 
the  master  and  the  slave,  that  in  the  progress  of 
its  principles  and  spirit,  it  must  ultimately  either 
abolish  this  relation,  or  leave  it  resting  upon  a 
basis  of  the  purest  benevolence,  and  the  source  of 
mutual  advantage.  This,  we  purpose  to  show  is 
the  appropriate  influence  of  the  Bible  upon  slavery. 
Nor  do  we  design  to  extend  our  remarks  beyond 
j  this  single  point.  What  is  the  legitimate  influence 
of  the  Bible  upon  slavery?  This  is  the  only 
question  which  falls  within  the  range  of  appro- 
priate discussion  in  these  lectures. 

We  cannot  take  an  intelhgent  view  of  this  ques- 
tion, without  a  glance  at  the  condition  of  slavery 
in  those  countries  where  the  influence  of  the  Bible 
I  has  never  been  enjoyed.     The  great  antiquity  of 
the  Assyrian  empire,  extending  beyond  the  period 
when  letters  were  invented,  leaves  the  customs  of 
the  ancient  Assyrians  in  great  obscurity.     Five  of 
the  Canaanitish  tribes  were  the  vassals  of  Cher- 
dorlaomer  for  twelve  years,  and  obtained  their  li- 
berty by  an  open  revolt.    Abram  was  an  inhabitant 
of  Assyria,  and  at  the  time  of  his  recovery  of  Lot 
from   Cherdorlaomer  and   his   allies,  he  was   the 
proprietor   of  several  hundred  "trained  servants, 
born  in  his  house."     From  the  predatory  nature 
of  their  wars,  it  is  probable  that  the  condition  of 
slaves  in  Assyria  was  not  essentially  different  from 
the  condition  of  the  same  class  of  men  in  the  sur- 
rounding countries.     The  manner  in  which  slaves 
were  treated  among  the  Babylonians,  the  Persians, 

19 


218  SLAVERY. 

and  other  nations  of  remote  antiquity,  was  such 
as  "  excluded  them  from  every  privilege  of  society, 
and  almost  every  blessing  of  life."  They  were  de- 
pendant on  the  caprice  of  imperious  masters,  and 
were  unprotected  by  the  laws.  They  might  be 
tortured,  maimed,  or  put  to  death,  at  the  arbitrary 
will  of  their  masters.  In  these  early  ages,  in 
times  of  great  public  calamity,  men  often  sold 
themselves  for  slaves.  While  Joseph  was  the 
prime  minister  of  Pharaoh,  and  during  the  seven 
years'  famine,  the  people  came  to  him  and  said, 
"  Buy  us  and  our  land  for  bread  5  and  we  will  be 
servants  unto  Pharaoh."  Joseph  granted  their 
request,  and  said  unto  them,  "  Behold  I  have 
bought  you  this  day,  and  your  land,  for  Pharaoh." 
Before  this  time,  Egypt  was  a  limited  monarchy. 
The  people  were  free,  and  had  lands  independent 
of  the  crown.  Now  they  became  vassals,  feuda- 
tory tenants,  and  the  government  despotic.  The 
condition  of  slaves  in  Egypt  we  know  was  suffi- 
ciently abject  and  degraded.  We  need  no  greater 
evidence  of  this,  than  Pharaoh's  treatment  of  the 
children  of  Israel,  and  more  especially  his  cruel 
order  to  the  midwives.  Nor  were  they  enemies, 
nor  the  children  of  enemies,  who  were  subjected 
to  this  severe  servitude,  but  the  descendants  of  a 
family  who  had  been  the  saviours  of  Egypt,  and 
the  builders  up  of  royal  power.  Nations  whose 
unmixed  ferocity  and  thirst  for  revenge  were  more 
generally  satiated  by  the  indiscriminate  butchery 
of  their  enemies  5   who  denied  them  even  those 


SLAVERY.  219 

common  funeral  rites,  which  in  the  opinion  of  the 
times,  were  necessary  to  the  repose  of  the  soul 
after  death  5  who  directed  even  their  captive  kings 
to  be  taken  to  prison  and  slain ;  regarded  it  as  a 
mitigation  of  the  laws  of  war  to  substitute  slavery 
for  death.  Adult  males  were  usually  put  to  the 
sword,  and  the  women  and  children  captured  and 
enslaved.  A  distinguished  writer  on  the  principles 
of  political  law,  remarks,  "  In  former  times,  it  was 
a  custom  almost  universally  established,  that  those 
who  were  made  prisoners  in  a  just  and  solemn  war, 
whether  they  had  surrendered  themselves,  or  were 
taken  by  main  force,  became  slaves  the  moment 
they  were  conducted  into  some  place  dependant 
on  the  conqueror.  And  this  right  was  exercised 
on  all  persons  whatever,  even  on  those  who  hap- 
pened to  be  in  the  enemy's  country  at  the  time 
when  the  war  suddenly  broke  out.  The  prisoners 
themselves  and  their  posterity  were  reduced  to  the 
same  condition."  In  some  countries,  insolvent 
debtors  were  sold  for  slaves.  There  were  periods 
in  the  Roman  history,  when  if  the  debt  were  not 
discharged  within  thirty  days  after  a  number  of 
citations,  by  the  direction  of  the  prsetor  the  pub« 
lie  crier  proclaimed  in  the  forum,  "Let  him  be 
punished  with  death,  or  sold  beyond  the  Tiber !" 
In  the  institutes  of  Justinian,  slaves  are  said  to  be- 
come such  in  three  ways^ — by  birth,  where  the 
mother  was  a  slave  5  by  captivity  in  war ;  and  by 
the  voluntary  sale  of  himself  by  a  freeman.     In 


220  SLAVERY. 

Greece,  the   disproportion   between  freemen  and 
slaves  was  nearly  in  the  ratio  of  ninety   to  four 
hundred.     This   large  portion   of  the  population, 
according  to  the  account  given  by  Mitford,  were 
not  only  slaves,  but  nothing  could  exceed  4he  in- 
sult, the  injury,  the  cruelty,  to  which  they  were 
subjected.     The   Spartan  youth   hunted  them  as 
wild  beasts,  for  the  sake  of  making  themselves  ex- 
pert in  the  use  of  arms.     "  A  scanty  and  disgust- 
ing  dress,  and    dog-skin  cap,  distinguished   them 
from  all  the  rest  of  the  inhabitants.     Those  who 
were  too  robust  had  to  be  enfeebled  by  various 
kinds  of  ill-treatment;  and  if  the  masters  did  not 
do  this,  they  became  themselves  liable  to  a  penalty. 
Every  slave  annually  received  a  certain  number  of 
stripes  to  remind  him  that  he  was  a  slave !    Hymns 
of  a  nobler  kind  they  were  not  allowed  to  sing; 
but   only  gay   and  sensual    songs.     To    complete 
their  degradation,  they  were  sometimes  compelled 
to  sing  songs  in  disgrace  and  ridicule  of  themselves ; 
and  to  the  same  purpose  they  were  also  compelled 
to  perform   indecent  dances.     In  order  to  make 
the  sons  of  the  Spartans  loathe  the  vice  of  drunk- 
enness, the   slaves   were  compelled   to  intoxicate 
themselves  in  public  assemblies.     When  they  be- 
came too  numerous,  they  were  murdered  clandes- 
tinely 5  every  year,  at  a  certain  period,  the  young 
Spartans,  clad  in  armour,  used  to  hunt  them;  and 
to  prevent  their  increase,  they  were   killed  with 


SLAVERY.  221 

daggers."*  The  same  author  relates  an  affecting 
anecdote  respecting  the  slaves  of  Sparta.  When, 
during  the  Peloponesian  war,  the  Spartans  became 
apprehensive  of  the  influence  of  their  slaves,  they 
made  proclamation  that  the  most  meritorious  and 
heroic  among  them  should  present  themselves  be- 
fore the  magistrate  for  the  honour  of  freemen.  In 
conformity  with  this  invitation,  two  thousand  pre- 
sented themselves  for  this  honour.  The  offer, 
however,  was  but  a  lure  to  detect  the  most  aspir- 
ing and  generous  minded  of  those  unhappy  beings, 
and  drew  out  their  choicest  spirits.  Instead  of 
the  promised  freedom,  all  were  inhumanly  slain,  in 
accordance  with  the  atrocious  policy  of  that  se- 
vere and  sanguinary  state.  The  slaves  of  Greece 
were  generally  branded  like  cattle.  According  to 
the  laws  of  Lycurgus,  they  could  neither  be  eman- 
cipated, nor  sold.  In  Sicily  and  Italy,  they  were 
chained  and  confined  to  work  in  dungeons.  Rome 
was  a  continual  market  for  slaves,  where  they  were 
commonly  exposed  naked.  It  is  computed  by  the 
historian,  Gibbon,  that  this  class  composed  one 
half  of  the  inhabitants  of  that  extensive  empire, 
and  could  not  have  been  less  than  sixty  millions. 
As  a  body  of  men,  they  were  considered  danger- 
ous to  the  welfare  of  the  state,  and  were  therefore 
depressed  in  every  way.  They  were  left  entirely 
at  the  disposal  of  their  masters,  who  might  treat 


*  The  Nature  and  Moral  Influence  of  Heathenism,  by  Tho- 
luck.     See  Biblical  Rep.  for  1832. 

19* 


222  SLAVERY. 

them  in  whatever  manner  they  pleased,  and  who 
were  invested  with  absolute  power  and  authority 
over  them.  The  aged,  the  sick,  and  the  infirm, 
were  carried  to  an  island  on  the  Tiber,  where  they 
were  suffered  to  perish.  Vedius  Apollo,  an  inti- 
mate friend  of  Augustus,  fed  his  fishes  with  the 
flesh  of  his  slaves.  Nor  was  this  degradation  of 
limited  extent.  A  single  individual  in  Rome  had 
slaves  to  the  amount  of  four  thousand,  one  hun- 
dred and  sixteen.  When  the  master  was  murder- 
ed, and  the  murderer  could  not  be  detected,  all 
his  slaves,  with  their  wives  and  children,  were  put 
to  death.  There  was  a  class  of  slaves  among  the 
the  Romans,  called  the  Ostiarii,  who  were  chained 
like  watch-dogs  before  the  houses.  The  laws  of 
Rome  regarded  them  all  simply  as  property  5  not 
as  persons^  but  as  things ',  and  as  far  as  they 
could  do  so  from  the  nature  of  the  case  itself, 
hardly  distinguished  them  from  brutes.  Nor  was 
it  until  the  time  of  the  emperor  Adrian,  more 
than  a  hundred  years  after  the  birth  of  Christ, 
that  masters  were  divested  of  the  arbitrary  power 
over  their  slaves  which  they  possessed  in  the  days 
of  the  republic  and  the  Csesars. 

Such  was  the  condition  of  slavery  in  pagan 
lands.  Such  was  essentially  its  condition  when 
God  called  Abram  from  an  idolatrous  country,  to 
make  him  the  founder  of  the  Hebrew  State, 
Such  was  its  condition  when  God  gave  the  moral 
and  civil  law  to  Moses  on  Sinai  and  in  the  wilder 
ness.     Such  was  its  condition  when   Nehemiah 


SLAVERY.  223 

the  Hebrew  reformer,  a  man  of  no  common  integ- 
rity and  boldness,  roused  the  minds  of  that  de- 
generate community  to  a  conviction  of  their  viola- 
ted obligations.  Such  was  its  condition  when  the 
Saviour  descended  as  the  great  Teacher  of  men, 
and  when  his  Apostles  so  faithfully  and  fearlessly 
published  and  enforced  the  great  truths  and  duties 
of  the  Christian  dispensation.  Such  was  its  con- 
dition during  all  the  progressive  revelations  which 
God  gave  to  men  down  to  the  period  when  the 
sacred  canon  was  completed.  Slavery  most  cer- 
tainly had  existed,  and  still  existed  in  its  worst 
forms,  and  with  all  its  most  fearful  and  appalling 
attendants  and  consequences.  It  existed  exten- 
sively among  the  Jews,  even  down  to  the  days  of 
the  apostles.  Tacitus  mentions  that  there  were 
20,000  slaves  in  the  army  of  Simon  when  Vespa- 
sian was  marching  against  Jerusalem. 

Here  then,  in  view  of  these  plain  and  affecting 
facts,  we  propose  a  grave  question.  How  did  the 
Scriptures  treat  this  solemn  subject  ?  What  is 
the  course  which  Moses  and  the  Prophets,  Christ 
and  the  Apostles  pursued  in  relation  to  this  deeply 
interesting  matter  ? 

It  is  not  difficult  to  conceive  of  a  course  which 
\  they  mighty  and  in  the  judgment  of  some  persons, 
'ought  to  have  adopted.  They  might  have  reason- 
ed thus. — Slavery  is  wrong.  No  man,  no  set  of 
men  have  a  right  to  deprive  another  of  his  per- 
sonal liberty.  The  obligation  of  service  at  the 
discretion  of  another  is  void.     Without  the  con- 


224  SLAVERY. 

tract,  or  consent,  or  crime  of  the  servant,  such  an 
obligation  is  in  all  cases,  sinful.  All  men  are 
born  equally  free  and  independent,  and  have  the 
same  right  to  their  freedom  which  they  have  to 
property,  or  life.  In  all  its  features,  the  whole 
system  of  slavery  is  utterly  at  war  with  the  law  of 
nature  and  the  law  of  God.  Justice  and  humanity 
shrink  from  it.  It  is  unjust  in  the  same  sense  and 
for  the  same  reason,  as  it  is  to  steal,  to  rob,  or  to 
murder.  It  destroys  the  lives,  depraves  the  morals, 
corrupts  the  purity,  and  ruins  the  souls  of  men.  It 
discourages  industry,  makes  a  mock  of  the  marriage 
vow,  shuts  out  the  light  of  religious  truth  from  more 
than  one  half  mankind,  and  reduces  them  to  a 
degradation  below  the  dignity  and  responsibility 
of  intellectual  and  immortal  beings.  It  is  an 
evil  therefore,  that  may  not  be  endured.  The 
owners  of  slaves  must  every  where  be  denounced 
as  wicked  men.  They  must  be  held  up  as  the 
objects  of  public  censure  and  obloquy.  They  are 
giants  in  cruelty  and  crime.  They  are  men- 
stealers,  robbers,  pirates,  and  may  no  more  have  a 
place  in  the  Church  of  God  on  the  earth,  than 
they  can  be  admitted  into  the  kingdom  of  heaven. 
The  system  of  which  they  are  the  abettors  must 
be  put  down.  No  matter  by  what  revolutions  in 
Church  or  State  5  no  matter  by  what  agitations, 
or  insurrections:  it  must  be  put  down.  It  is  a 
sin,  and  cannot  be  abolished  too  soon.  Duty  is 
cur's,  events  are  God's.      No  matter  how  disas- 


SLAVERY.  225 

trous  the  consequences  of  arresting  it,  it  must  be 
arrested,  be  they  what  they  may  ! 

Such  a  course  as  this  I  say  the  Bible  might  have 
recommended.  And  why  did  it  not  recommend 
jsuch  a  course  ?  It  was  not  from  inadvertence,  be- 
'  cause  it  frequently  adverted  to  the  subject.  It  must 
have  been  from  design.  The  evils  of  slavery 
were  under  the  eye  of  the  sacred  writers,  and  met 
them  every  where.  They  were  wise  and  good 
men,  and  under  the  plenary  inspiration  of  the 
Holy  Ghost.  They  were  divinely  instructed  in  the 
best  method  of  fulfilling  their  great  commission,  and 
of  carrying  the  designs  of  it  into  execution.  The 
great  Author  of  the  Bible  exercised  his  wisdom  in 
this  feature  of  his  revelation  as  well  as  in  every 
other.  Nor  can  it  be  doubted  by  any,  except  those 
who  would  invalidate  all  confidence  in  his  word, 
that  he  has  selected  the  best  method  of  instructing 
the  world  upon  this  important  subject.  There  was 
in  the  nature  of  things,  hut  one  best  metliod  ,*  and 
that  method  was  not  only  known  to  God,  but  he 
was  under  a  moral  necessity  of  adopting  it.  Those 
who  find  fault  with  the  instructions  of  the  Bible  in 
relation  to  slavery,  directly  arraign  the  rectitude, 
goodness,  and  wisdom  of  him  who  does  all  things 
after  the  counsel  of  his  own  will.  Nor  may  it  be 
supposed  there  was  any  want  of  sensibility  in  the 
sacred  writers  to  the  deplorable  state  of  the  slave 
population.  Nor  did  they  want  firmness  and  en- 
ergy of  character  5  but  were  every  where  bold, 
determined,  and  steady  to  their   purpose.     They 


J226  SLAVERY. 

were  never  rash,  but  never  fearful  of  opposing  them- 
selves to  the  swelling,  menacing  tide  of  the  corrupt 
propensities  and  passions  of  men,  nor  hesitated 
to  do  all  that  they  could  for  truth  and  right,  for 
rehgion  and  virtue,  for  order  and  happiness,  and 
for  the  protection  of  the  oppressed,  however  for- 
midable the  opposition  they  met  with,  however 
great  the  sacrifices,  or  however  imminent  the  dan- 
ger. The  reason  why  they  did  not  pursue  the 
course  to  which  we  have  referred,  must  have  been 
that  it  was  not  the  true  and  right  course.  It  was 
neither  right  in  itself,  nor  best  for  the  master  or 
the  slave,  for  the  church  or  the  world. 

What  then  was  the  course  which  the  Bible  pur- 
I  sued  ?  In  giving  this  book  to  mankind,  its  wise 
I  and  benevolent  Author  undertook  the  work  of  a 
',  great  reformer.  His  object  was  to  benefit  the 
world,  and  subdue  it  ultimately  to  himself,  by  set- 
ting in  motion  a  series  of  moral  influences,  that 
were  silently  to  operate  for  good  among  the  na- 
tions, and  gradually  to  renew  the  face  of  the  earth. 
His  plans  were  vast  and  magnificent,  and  would 
not  be  accomplished  in  a  day.  Nor  did  he  fail  to 
count  the  cost  of  the  enterprise.  If  there  were 
evils  in  human  society,  he  modified  and  mitigated 
them,  because  to  have  done  more,  would  in  the 
end  have  been  to  accomplish  less.  If  there  were 
existing  institutions,  long  and  deeply  imbedded  in 
the  frame  of  human  society,  the  abuse  of  which 
could  not  but  be  deplored,  he  so  regulated  the  in- 
stitutions themselves  as  to  sever  them  from  their 


SLAVERY.  227 

abuses,  while  he  breathed  into  all  his  moral  in- 
structions and  government,  a  spirit  that  should 
finally  eradicate  all  evil,  and  fill  the  earth  with  ho- 
liness and  salvation. 

Nor  is  there  any  subject  to  which  these  remarks 
are  more  applicable  than  that  of  slavery.  Let  us 
turn  our  thoughts  in  the  first  place,  to  what  may 
ibe  gathered  from  the  Old  Testament  in  rela- 
'tion  to  this  subject.  In  glancing  at  the  early  his- 
tory of  the  Hebrews,  and  before  the  giving  of  the 
law  to  Moses,  we  have  already  seen  that  the  fa- 
thers of  that  nation,  the  patriarchs,  possessed  slaves 
in  great  numbers.  And  yet  we  do  not  find  that 
God  reproved  these  holy  men  for  being  the  propri- 
etors of  slaves.  He  did  not  at  that  time  forbid 
slavery.  Though,  if  he  designed  to  do  so  at  all,  it 
would  seem  to  us  to  have  been  the  proper  time  for 
him  to  have  required  Abram  to  emancipate  his 
slaves,  yet  he  made  no  such  requisition.  He  had 
just  called  him  out  from  the  corruptions  of  a  pa- 
gan empire,  for  the  purpose  of  founding  in  his  family 
his  visible  church,  and  in  them  of  setting  an  exam- 
ple to  the  world  of  a  society  that  should  be  under 
his  own  guidance  and  direction.  And  yet  he  did 
not  make  it  a  condition  of  Abram's  adoption  into 
his  family  that  he  should  give  freedom  to  the  ser- 
vants, that  were  bought  with  his  money,  that  were 
born  in  his  house,  or  that  were  given  to  him  by 
Abimelech.  Instead  of  this,  he  so  far  recognizes 
and  sanctions  the  proprietorship  of  this  patriarch 
in  his  servants,  that  he  required  every  male  among 


228  SLAVERY. 

them  to  be  circumcised,  and  claimed  for  them  all 
the  privileges  of  the  covenant,  of  which  circumcis- 
ion was  the  seal.* 

If  we  pass  from  the  days  of  Abraham  to  those 
of  Moses,  we  find  a  moral  law  revealed  from  hea- 
ven, and  a  code  of  civil  statutes,  in  both  of  which 
the  existence  of  a  state  of  servitude  is  distinctly 
recognized,  without  being  forbidden.  In  the  fourth 
commandment  it  is  written,  "  The  seventh  day  is 
the  sabbath  of  the  Lord  thy  God :  in  it  thou  shalt 
not  do  any  work,  thou,  nor  thy  son,  nor  thy  daugh- 
ter, nor  thy  man  servant^  nor  thy  maid  servants 
And  in  the  tenth  commandment  it  is  written, 
"  Thou  shalt  not  covet  thy  neighbours  house,  thou 
shalt  not  covet  thy  neighbours  wife,  nor  his  m^an 
servant^  nor  his  maid  servant^  If  from  the 
moral,  we  turn  to  the  civil  code  of  the  Hebrews, 
we  find  the  following  facts.  As  one  of  its  great 
and  capital  principles,  it  forbids  the  slave  trade, 
or  the  seizing  of  those  who  are  free  and  seUing 
them  as  slaves.  "He  that  stealeth  a  man  and 
selleth  him,  or  if  he  be  found  in  his  hand,  he  shall 
surely  be  put  to  death."  This  is  the  deliberate 
judgment  of  the  divine  mind  in  relation  to  every 
branch  of  this  nefarious  traffic.  It  is  an  offence 
punished  with  death.  The  original  man-stealer 
and  the  receiver  of  the  stolen  person  must  lose 
their  life  under  the  Mosaic  law.     The  slave  cap- 


*  Gen.  17  :  10—13,  and  27. 


SLATERY.  229 

tain  and  the  negro  dealer  are  here  admonished  of 
their  reward.  This  code  also  recognizes  the  dis- 
tinction between  slaves  and  hired  servants.  "  It 
shall  not  seem  hard  unto  thee  when  thou  sendest 
him  away  from  thee  j  for  he  hath  been  worth  dou- 
ble a  hired  servant  unto  thee,  in  serving  thee 
these  six  years."*  So  that  when  this  code  speaks 
of  servants^  it  speaks  of  them  not  as  hired  free- 
men, but  as  slaves.  The  Mosaic  law  refers  to  the 
following  ways  in  which  a  Hebrew  might  lose  his 
liberty.  In  extreme  poverty,  he  might  sell  him- 
self "If  thy  brother  that  dwelleth  by  thee  be 
waxen  poor,  and  be  sold  unto  thee,  thou  shalt  not 
compel  him  to  serve  as  a  bond  servant^  but  as  a 
hired  servant  and  a  sojourner  he  shall  be  with 
thee,  and  shall  serve  thee  unto  the  year  of  the 
Jubilee."t  A  father  might  sell  his  children.  "  If 
a  man  sell  his  daughter  to  be  a  maid  servant,  she 
shall  not  go  out  as  the  men  servants  do."J  Insol- 
vent debtors  became  the  slaves  of  their  creditors. 
"  My  husband  is  dead,  and  the  creditor  is  come  to 
take  my  two  sons  to  be  bondmen."||  A  thief,  if  he 
had  not  the  money  to  pay  the  fine  exacted  from 
him  by  the  law,  was  by  the  sentence  of  the  judge 
to  be  sold  for  the  benefit  of  him  whom  he  had 
robbed.  "  If  a  thief  be  found,  he  shall  make  full 
restitution ;  if  he  have  nothing,  then  he  shall  be 
sold  for  his  theft."§     As  the  Hebrews  were  liable 


*Deut.   15:    18.  and    Lev.    25:   39,   40.     fLev.    25:    39. 
X  Exod.  21 :  7.     I|  II  Kings,  4:1.     §  Exod.  22  :  3. 

20 


230  SLAVERY. 

to  be  taken  prisoners  of  war,  and  sold  for  slaves, 
so  a  Hebrew  slave  who  had  been  ransomed  from  a 
gentile,  might  be  sold  by  him  who  ransomed  him 
to  one  of  his  own  nation,  and  the  price  of  his  re- 
demption was  "reckoned  from  the  year  that  he 
was  sold,  unto  the  year  of  jubilee."*  The  Hebrews 
were  also  allowed  to  hold  slaves  whom  they  pur- 
chased from  the  surrounding  nations,  who  should 
be  "  their  possession,  and  an  inheritance  for  their 
children  after  them."t  All  the  prisoners  of  war 
also  that  were  taken  by  the  Hebrews,  were  slaves. 
"When  thou  comest  nigh  unto  a  city  to  fight 
against  it,  then  proclaim  peace  unto  it.  And  it 
shall  be,  if  it  make  an  answer  of  peace, — that  all 
the  people  that  shall  be  found  therein  shall  be 
tributaries  unto  thee  and  shall  serve  thee.  But  if 
it  make  war  against  thee,  then  thou  shalt  beseige 
it,  and  shalt  smite  every  male  thereof  with  the 
edge  of  the  sword,  but  the  women  and  the  little 
ones  shalt  thou  take  unto  thyself."J  In  these 
seven  ways,  slavery  might  originate  among  the 
Hebrews.  And  it  is  worthy  to  be  distinctly  re- 
marked, that  with  the  exception  of  those  slaves 
that  were  purchased  from  surrounding  nations,  and 
those  who  were  taken  in  war,  it  was  a  state  of  ser- 
vitude originating  with  the  consent  of  the  servant, 
or  growing  out  of  ids  fault.     It  was  also  a  servi- 


*Lev.   25:    50.      fLev.   25:     45.     :j:Deut.    20:    14.   and 
Numbers,  31  :  18—35. 


SLAVERY.  231 

tude  greatly  modified  by  very  many  important 
mitigations.  Every  where  the  Jewish  law  is  most 
scrupulously  protective  of  the  person  of  the  slave, 
while  it  allows  for  the  master's  peculiar  relation, 
on  the  ground  that  the  servant  is  "  his  money." 
While  it  recognizes  the  right  of  the  master  to  the 
possession  of  the  servant,  it  recognizes  no  rights 
that  are  inconsistent  with  the  high  nature  of  his 
being,  but  is  itself  the  guardian  of  every  right, 
founded  on  his  obligations  as  a  moral  and  respon- 
sible agent,  to  God  or  his  fellow  men.  As  in  the 
patriarchal,  so  it  was  in  the  Mosaic  age :  the  slave 
passed  under  the  bonds  of  God's  covenant,  was 
consecrated  by  his  master  to  God,  and  was  educa- 
ted in  his  fear.  The  law  guarded  his  person  from 
severity,  in  some  cases  by  the  death  of  the  master, 
and  in  others  by  his  own  immediate  freedom.  He 
enjoyed  all  religious  rites  and  privileges,  not  ex- 
cepting the  sabbath,  the  year  of  jubilee,  the  an- 
nual festivals,  the  new  moons,  the  day  of  atone- 
ment, and  other  seasons  of  appointed  rest.  He 
had  a  sure  and  certain  support,  and  was  entitled  to 
all  affection  and  kindness.  Every  where  God  ad- 
monished the  Hebrews  against  treating  their  slaves 
as  they  themselves  had  been  treated  in  Egypt,  and 
as  slaves  were  generally  treated  in  surrounding 
countries.  In  addition  to  this,  let  it  be  borne  in 
I  mind,  that  no  Hebrew^  could  by  the  laws  of  Moses, 
Ibe  a  slave  for  a  longer  term  than  six  years,  unless 
•by  intermarrying  with  his  master's  servants,  or  for 
^  other  causes,  he  chose  to  remain  in  servitude ;  and 


232  SLAVERY. 

I  at  the  end  of  the  six  years,  he  was  to  be  sent  out 
I  liberally  furnished.    A  female  Hebrew  servant  also, 
I  frequently  became  the  wife  of  her  master,  or  the 
■  wife  of  his  son ;  and  in  that  event  was  entitled  to 
I  all  the  privileges  of  honourable  matrimony,  or  a 
I  lawful  daughter.     I  cannot  help  thinking,  that  the 
\  system  of  servitude  under  the  laws  of  Moses,  so 
,  far  as  it  regarded  slaves  who  were  themselves  He- 
brews, was  not  unlike  the  system  of  apprentice- 
ship in  Great  Britian,  and  in  this  country,  where 
;a  child  is  bound  out  for  a  term  of  years,  and  at 
the  end  of  that  period  the  parent  receives  a  stipu- 
lated compensation  for  his  services. 

The  two  most  revolting  features  of  slavery 
among  this  people  are  recorded  in  the  following 
paragraphs.  "  If  a  man  smite  his  servant  or  his 
maid  with  a  rod,  and  he  die  under  his  hand,  he 
shall  surely  be  punished;"  and  the  punishment 
was  death.  "Notwithstanding,  if  he  continue  a 
day  or  two,  he  shall  not  be  punished,  for  he  is  his 
money."  The  reason  of  this  law  I  suppose  to  be 
this.  If  the  servant  survived  a  number  of  days,  it 
could  not  be  so  clearly  proved  that  the  punish- 
ment occasioned  his  death,  as  to  justify  the  death 
of  the  master.  It  might  rather  be  charitably  pre- 
sumed, that  he  died  from  some  other  cause. 
There  would  not  be  conclusive  evidence  of  delibe- 
rate malice.  The  pecuniary  interest  which  the 
master  had  in  his  servant  was  a  presumption  in  his 
favour,  and  the  law  would  not  condemn  unless 
on  the   strongest  testimony.      And  was  not  this 


SLAVERY.  233 

right  5  and  are  not,  ought  not  all  penal  laws  to  be 
construed  as  favourably  as  possible  to  the  accused  ? 
The  other  paragraph  is  this.  "  Of  thy  bond-men 
and  thy  bond-maids  which  thou  shalt  have,  shall 
be  of  the  heathen  that  are  round  about  you.  Of 
them  shall  ye  buy  bond-men  and  bond-maids. 
Moreover,  of  the  children  of  the  strangers,  that  do 
sojourn  among  you,  of  them  shall  ye  buy,  and  of 
their  families  that  are  with  you,  which  they  beget 
in  your  land :  and  they  shall  be  your  possession. 
And  ye  shall  take  them  as  an  inheritance  for  your 
children  after  you,  to  inherit  them  for  a  posses- 
sion;  they  shall  be  your  bond-men  forever."  It 
seems  difficult  to  deny  that  this  feature  of  slavery 
existed  among  the  Jews  until  the  final  destruction 
of  their  city.  The  language  of  the  passage  is  that 
of  injunction,  but  it  implies  nothing  more  than 
that  the  Hebrews  were  permitted  to  procure 
slaves  of  the  surrounding  nations,  and  hold  them 
in  perpetual  bondage.  No  considerate  man  sup- 
poses that  they  were  required  to  do  this,  and  that 
the  Hebrew  who  neglected  to  do  it  was  living  in 
sin.  We  have  two  remarks  to  submit  in  relation 
to  this  general  permission.  The  first  is,  that  the 
kind  of  servitude  to  which  foreign  slaves  were 
subjected  was  in  all  respects  the  same  with  the 
servitude  of  the  Hebrews  themselves,  except  that 
it  was  perpetual.  They  were  protected  by  the 
laws  5  were  circumcised,  and  introduced  to  all  the 
blessings  and  promises  of  God's  peculiar  people. 
But  there  is  another  remark.     The  condition  of 

20* 


234  SLAVERY. 

the  Hebrews  was  a  peculiar  condition.  The  na- 
tions with  which  they  were  surrounded,  were 
nations  whom  for  their  total  apostacy  from  the 
worship  of  the  true  God,  their  degraded  idolatry, 
their  unnatural  cruelty  and  pollution,  the  Hebrews 
were  required  to  exterminate.  There  was  one 
condition  on  which  they  were  relieved  from  the 
execution  of  this  decree.  It  was  that  the  Canaan- 
ites  submitted  to  their  invaders,  renounced  their 
idolatry,  and  became  Hebrews.  Their  conquerors 
were  the  ministers  of  the  divine  justice,  command- 
ed to  execute  this  sentence,  and  to  relax  its  rigour 
BO  far  as  their  enemies  submitted  to  their  go- 
vernment and  their  rehgion.  The  right  to  des- 
troy carried  with  it  the  right  to  enslave  5  while 
the  slaves  purchased  their  lives  by  the  voluntary 
surrender  of  their  liberty. 

I  cannot  think  that  I  have  set  the  slavery  of  the 
\  Hebrews  in  too  fair  colours.  I  have  not  designed 
to  do  so.  Most  certainly,  it  was  a  very  different 
thing  from  what  it  was  in  the  surrounding  nations. 
Look  at  the  contrast,  and  see  the  influence  of  the 
Bible  upon  slavery,  even  at  that  early  age  of  the 
world.  Slavery  there  was  among  the  Hebrews, 
but  few  of  its  evils.  The  eiUire  dispensation  of 
the  Jews  made  at  once  a  bold  and  decided  inva- 
sion upon  its  abuses  and  eradicated  them.  And 
yet  it  is  a  fact  equally  clear,  that  it  left  the  relation 
between  master  and  servant  untouched,  and  in- 
stead of  denouncing  slavery  as  a  crime,  is  offended 
only  with  its  abuses. 


t- 


SLAVERY.  '  235 

Such  was  the  meUoration  which  the  Bible  intro- 
duced in  regard  to  this  large  class  of  our  fellow- 
beings,  for  whom  it  so  kindly  and  wisely  legislated 
under  the  old  dispensation  and  down  to  the  coming 
of  Christ.     And  nothing  is  more  obvious  than  that, 
while  it  exerted  the  happiest  influence  upon  this 
relation  of  social  life,  it  did  not  overturn  and  de- 
stroy it.     The  same  essential  principles  of  reform, 
and  no  others,  we  find   every  where  developed  in 
i  the  New   Testament.      Employed  exclusively   in 
propagating  the  doctrines  of  their  Divine  Master, 
his  apostles  no  where  opened  a  crusade  upon  the 
despotism  of  the  government  under  which  they 
lived,  or  upon   the  institutions  sanctioned  by  its 
laws.     Melioration  in  civil  affairs  they  left  to  be 
gradually  brought  about  by  the  silent  operation  of 
those  divine  principles   which   purify   the  heart; 
which  have  in  their  progress  banished  such   an 
amount  of  sin,  tyranny,  and  slavery  from  the  world  ; 
and  which  are  destined,  in  the  same  heaven-like 
way,  to  complete  their  work.     In  all  the  mutual 
intercourse  of  men,  the  great  maxim  which  they 
enforce  is  one  and  unchanging :  "  Therefore  all 
things  whatsoever  ye  would  that  men  should  do 
unto  you,  do  ye  even  so  to  them ;  for  this  is  the 
law  and  the  prophets."     This  spirit  runs  through 
the  whole  of  the  New  Testament,  and  addresses 
itself  equally  to  the   master  and  the  slave.     One 
cannot  but  observe  with  admiration,  the  high-born 
wisdom,  the  meekness  and  gentleness  with  which 
the  apostles  conducted  this  discussion.     The  re- 


236  SLAVERY. 

I  ligion  they  taught  is  a  religion  of  love-  It  breathes 
peace  on  earth  and  good  will  to  men.  What  in- 
congruity with  such  a  spirit  to  have  excommuni- 
cated every  slaveholder !  or  to  have  made  immedi- 
ate emancipation  the  condition  of  church  member- 
ship !  What  incongruity  with  such  a  spirit  to  have 
excited  revolt  among  the  Christian  slaves,  or  to 
have  disseminated  notions  which  must  have  revo- 
lutionized the  principles  of  social  order,  and  broke 
down  all  the  distinctions  of  rank  and  condition  ? 
They  did  nothing  of  all  this.  They  were  taught 
from  above,  and  their  wisdom  and  meekness  gave 
efficacy  to  their  ministrations.  They  had  access 
to  the  slave  population  of  the  Roman  empire ;  they 
penetrated  "  Caesar's  household ;"  they  urged  the 
cause  of  their  Master  in  the  palaces  of  kings,  and 
carried  the  hearts  of  masters  and  slaves  by  gaining 
their  impartial  attention,  and  expressing  the  gen- 
tleness of  Christ. 

I  have  been  not  a  little  affected  with  their  in- 
structions  to  both  these  classes  of  men.     Mark 
their  delicacy,  and   at  the  same  time  their  tender- 
ness and  sympathy  when  they  address   the   poor 
slave — just  weak  enough  to  begin  to  think  he  is  an 
emperor,  because  by  the  grace  of  God  he  has  be- 
( come  a  Christian.     "  Art  thou  called  being  a  ser- 
vant ?     Care  not  for  it.     But  if  thou  may  est  be 
I  free,  use  it  rather.     For  he  that  is  called   in  the 
I  Lord,  being  a  servant,  is  the  Lord's  freeman.    Let 
j  every  man  abide  in  the  same  calling  wherein  he  is 
I  called !"     How  wise  !  how  kind !     How  different 


SLAVERY.  237 

|(  from  some  modern  reformers !  I  seem  to  see  the 
great  apostle  laying  his  paternal  hand  upon  the 
head  of  the  poor  slave,  and  hear  him  say,  Care  not 
for  your  slavery.  You  are  the  Lord's  freeman. 
Stay  where  you  are.  You  shall  have  a  throne  here- 
after. And  that  your  master  may  share  it  with 
you,  let  him  see  your  spirit  of  love  and  meekness. 
"  Be  obedient  to  your  masters,  according  to  the 
flesh,  with  good  will  doing  service  as  unto  the 
Lord,  and  not  unto  men.  Account  your  masters 
worthy  of  all  honour  that  the  name  of  God  be  not 
blasphemed !"  If  you  have  Christian  masters,  de- 
mean not  yourselves  superciliously  on  this  account, 
but  rather  more  affectionately  and  dutifully  5  "  de- 
spise them  not  because  they  are  brethren,  but  ra- 
ther do  them  service  because  they  are  faithful  and 
beloved  !"  Nor  is  it  to  the  slave  only  that  they  ad- 
dress their  counsels.  While  they  neither  excom- 
municate, nor  even  rebuke  the  master,  simply  be- 
cause he  is  a  master,  they  do  not  withhold  their 
rebuke  of  all  his  oppression  and  injustice — nay  they 
thunder  forth  their  anathemas  against  the  degra- 
dation, the  ignorance,  the  misery,  the  wickedness, 
and  every  violation  of  the  personal  and  domestic 
rights  to  which  he  subjects  his  slaves,  and  solemnly 
remind  him  of  the  fearfulness  of  that  day  when 
God  shall  call  him  to  account.  They  admonish  him 
not  to  be  unmindful  of  the  obligations  to  his  slaves 
on  his  part.  They  say  to  him,  "•  Masters,  give  unto 
your  slaves  that  which  is  just  and  equal.  Do  the 
same  things   unto  them,  forbearing  threatening  5 


238  SLAVERY. 

knowing  that  your  Master  also  is  in  heaven,  neither 
is  there  any  respect  of  persons  with  him  !"  They 
say  to  him,  You  are  responsible,  as  well  as  your 
slaves  *,  and  as  you  would  enjoy  the  favour  of  your 
Judge,  honour  his  religion,  and  find  mercy  at  that 
day,  be  ye  merciful  as  your  Father  in  heaven  is 
merciful.  Your  slaves  are  not  things^  but  per- 
sons j  they  are  not  brutes,  but  fne7i  j  they  are  not 
your  creatures,  but  God^s  j  they  are  not  your  pro- 
perty, but  his  who  "  made  of  one  blood  all  nations 
of  men  for  to  dwell  on  the  face  of  the  earth,  if 
haply  they  might  feel  after  him  and  find  him." 

Thus  do  the  Scriptures  of  the  Old  and  New 
Testament  treat  the  subject  of  slavery.  They 
sanction  no  other  slavery  than  this.  The  exclu- 
sive title  of  man  over  a  fellow  worm,  who  belongs 
not  to  him,  but  to  God  5  the  assertion  of  any  hu- 
man will  as  supreme  over  a  fellow-creature,  when 
there  is  no  supreme  will  in  heaven  or  on  earth,  but 
the  divine  will  5  the  lording  it  over  the  conscience 
of  the  slave,  when  God  alone  is  Lord  of  the  con- 
science 5  this  they  rebuke  and  indignantly  con- 
demn. Whatever  servitude  denies  the  slave  the 
rights  of  his  moral  nature,  annihilates  his  capacity 
of  improvement,  crushes  intellect  that  would  other- 
wise brighten  and  expand,  subdues  affections  that 
would  otherwise  be  elevated  to  the  spirit  of  hea- 
ven, shuts  out  the  light  of  truth,  and  binds  body 
and  soul  in  the  chains  of  ignorance  and  death  5 
they  denounce  as  one  of  the  things  which  the 
Lord  hateth.     But   a   slavery  that   is   dissevered 


SLAVERY.  239 

from  all  these  evils,  and  dissociated  from  the  abuses 
to  which  it  is  so  exposed  from  the  corrupt  propen- 
sities and  selfish  passions  of  men,  it  no  where,  to 
my  knowledge,  forbids.  Such  a  slavery,  for  ex- 
ample, as  Onesimus  sustained  to  Philemon,  a  state 
of  Christian  servitude,  a  state  in  which  the  master 
and  the  slave  were  required  to  conduct  themselves 
as  brethren  and  heirs  of  the  common  faith  and 
salvation,  Paul  certainly  did  not  forbid.,  when  he 
restored  this  fugitive  slave  to  his  master.  So  far 
from  justifying  him  for  absconding,  he  required 
him  to  go  back,  at  the  same  time  furnishing  him 
with  a  letter  of  introduction  to  his  master,  entreat- 
ing him  to  overlook  his  fault,  and  regard  him  as  a 
penitent  and  faithful  servant,  and  "brother  be- 
loved.^' 

I  hold  myself  ready  to  revise  these  views,  when- 
ever I  see  evidence  from  the  Bible  that  they  are 
not  true.  Nothing  is  more  plain  to  my  mind,  than 
that  the  word  of  God  recognizes  the  relation  be- 
tween master  and  slave  as  one  of  the  established 
institutions  of  the  age  5  and  that  while  it  addresses 
slaves  as  Christian  men,  and  Christian  men  as 
slaveholders,  it  so  modifies  the  whole  system  of 
slavery,  as  to  give  a  death  blow  to  all  its  abuses, 
and  breathes  such  a  spirit,  that  in  the  same  pro- 
portion in  which  its  principles  and  spirit  are  im- 
bibed, the  yoke  of  bondage  will  melt  away,  all  its 
abuses  cease,  and  every  form  of  human  oppression 
will  be  unknown.  The  Bible  is  no  agitator.  It 
gradually  meliorates  what  it  cannot  suddenly  re- 


240  SLAVERY. 

move.   Instead  of  carrying  fire  and  sword  through- 
out the  world  without  the  least  prospect  of  advaii- 
t  tage,  it  aims  at  making  men  holy  and  fitting  them 
'  for  heaven.   It  changes  human  governments  only  as 
;'  it  changes  the  human  character ;  and  thus  produces 
all  those  alterations  which  commend  themselves  to 
I  a  mind  enlightened  by  the  truth  and  spirit  of  God. 
It  aims  at  transforming   the  world  5  but  it  is  by 
transforming  the  dispositions  and  hearts  of  men, 
and  diffusing  throughout  all  the  social  institutions, 
the  supreme  love  of  God,  and  the  impartial  love 
of  man. 

Let  us  now  take  a  brief  view  of  the  practical 
effect  of  these  general  principles,  as  they  have 
actually  been  applied  by  several  Christian  States. 
European  civilization  may  be  said  to  have  com- 
menced from  the  fall  of  the  Roman  empire.  To 
say  nothing  of  antecedent  periods,  from  this  time, 
the  Bible,  though  often  in  the  hands  of  a  corrupted 
hierarchy,  has  been  exerting  a  powerful  influence 
on  all  the  social  institutions.  Barbarism  gradually 
subsided  into  feudalism,  and  feudalism  gave  way  to 
the  various  modifications  of  civil  Hberty.  Slavery 
was  among  the  last  of  the  evils,  so  imbedded  in 
the  constitution  of  human  society,  to  which  the 
Bible  extended  its  influence.  "Mr.  Barrington, 
who  has  given  a  very  strong  picture  of  the  degra- 
dation and  oppression  of  the  tenants  under  the 
English  tenure  of  pure  villenage,  is  of  opinion  that 
feudal  servitude  existed  in  England  so  late  as  the 


SLAVERY.  241 

reign  of  Elizabeth."*  But  the  personal  servitude 
which  grew  out  of  the  abuses  of  the  feudal  system, 
was  a  much  milder  form  of  slavery  than  that  which 
existed  among  the  ancients.  "  No  person  in  Eng- 
land was  a  villain  in  the  eye  of  the  law,  except  in 
relation  to  his  master.  To  all  other  persons  he 
was  a  freeman,  and  as  against  them  he  had  rights 
of  property  5  and  his  master  for  excessive  injuries 
committed  upon  the  vassal  was  answerable  at  the 
kings  suit."t  The  importation  of  negro  slaves  into 
the  Spanish  colonies  had  commenced  as  early  as 
1501 5  and  in  1517,  the  emperor  Charles  V.  granted 
a  patent  to  certain  persons  to  supply  the  Spanish 
islands  with  slaves  from  Africa.  But  this  enters- 
prise  was  opposed  with  great  spirit  and  vigour  by 
some  of  the  Christians  of  Spain,  who  had  great 
influence  in  mitigating  slavery  in  the  colonies. 
The  first  Englishman  who  introduced  the  practise 
of  buying,  or  kidnapping  negroes  in  Africa,  and 
transporting  and  selling  them  for  slaves  in  the 
West  Indies,  was  Sir  John  Hawkins,  an  English 
admiral  born  at  Plymouth,  and  who  signalized 
himself  under  Elizabeth,  especially  against  the  in- 
vincible armada.  It  is  matter  for  lamentation 
that  having  signalized  himself  in  so  good  a  cause, 
he  should  have  become  signal  in  a  cause  which 
loads  his  name  with  everlasting  reproach.  This 
was  in  the  year  1562.    From  that  time  to  the 


*  Kent's  Commentaries,  Vol.  II.     f  Ibid, 

21 


242  SLAVERY. 

year  1808,  the  British  West  Indies  became  the 
great  receptacle  of  these  unhappy  beings.  "In 
1620,  a  Dutch  vessel  carried  a  cargo  of  slaves 
from  Africa  to  Virginia  5  and  this  was  the  sad 
epoch  of  the  introduction  of  African  slaves  into 
the  English  colonies  on  this  continent.  The 
Dutch  records  of  New  Netherlands  allude  to  the 
existence  of  slaves  in  their  settlements  on  the 
Hudson,  as  early  as  1626  5  and  slavery  is  men- 
tioned in  the  Massachusetts  laws,  between  1630 
and  1641."* 

Thus,  for  well  nigh  three  successive  centuries, 
the  negro  race  remained  almost  without  an  advo- 
cate— crushed,  broken,  and  deserted,  and  the  ob- 
jects of  a  cupidity  which  it  would  seem  nothing 
could  satiate.  England,  deeply  stained  with  the 
guilt  of  this  foul  traffic,  at  length  stands  foremost 
for  the  relief  and  elevation  of  the  African  race, 
unless  we  except  the  government  and  people  of 
Massachusetts,  who,  in  1645-'46,  so  boldly  pro- 
tested against  the  introduction  of  African  slaves 
into  the  colony  as  a  heinous  crime.f  At  the  com- 
mencement of  that  distinguished  era  which  was 
introduced  about  half  a  century  ago,  when  the 
missionary  spirit  began  to  agitate  the  Christian 
world  5  when  the  judgments  of  heaven  began  to 


*  Kent's  Commentaries. 

■\  Winthrop's  and  Bancroft's  Histories,  as  referred  to  by  Chan- 
cellor  Kent 


slaverv.  243 

descend  on   the  nations    which  had  "given  their 
power  and  strength  to  the  beast  5"  when  the  cause 
of  evangehcal  truth  was  revived,  and  the  spirit  of 
God  began  to  descend  in  that  series  of  revivals  of 
rehgion  which  has  not  ceased  to  the  present  hour  5 
a  movement  was  begun  in  Britain,  by  which  Chris- 
tianity and  civihzation  were  conveyed  to  long-ne- 
glected  and   abused    Africa.      Clarkson,   Sharpe, 
Wilberforce,  Thornton  and  Gregorie,  became  the 
undaunted  and  unwearied  advocates  for  the  aboli- 
tion  of  the  slave   trade  throughout   the  civilized 
world,  and  the  inquiry  was  every  where  agitated, 
whether  it  were  not  practicable  to  wipe  away  this 
deep  stain  from  Christian  lands.     About  the  same 
time,  the   estabhshment  of  the  colony  of  Sierra- 
Leone,  and  the  fearful  revolution  in  St.  Domingo, 
gave   additional   impulse    to   the   enterprise,   and 
awakened  the  hope  that  the  day  of  Africa's  deli- 
verance was  near.     "  God  Almighty  has  set  before 
me,"   said   Wilberforce,  "  two  great   objects,  the 
suppression  of  the  slave  trade,  and  the  reformation 
of  manners."     After  some  few  unsuccessful  strug- 
gles, the  celebrated  Mr.  Pitt  was  enhsted  in  this 
cause,  and  Mr.  Fox  concluded  the  last  speech  he 
ever  made  in  parliament  with  the  immortal  resolu- 
tion for  the  abolition  of  the  slave  trade.*     In  the 
mean  time,  such  men  as  Sir  Samuel  Romily  and 
Sir  James  Mcintosh,  aided  by  venerable  prelates. 


*  See  Croly's  Life  of  George  IV. 


244  SLAVERY. 

threw  the  vigour  of  their  minds  and  the  ardour 
of  their  hearts  into  the  benevolent  struggle,  and 
Edmund  Burke  had  exclaimed,  "-This  is  not  a 
traffic  in  the  labour  of  man,  but  in  the  man  him- 
self!" In  March,  1807,  the  bill  for  abolition  was 
passed.  After  the  general  peace  in  Europe,  in 
1814,  the  subject  was  again  brought  before  parlia- 
ment for  the  purpose  of  securing  the  co-operation 
of  the  other  Christian  powers  in  the  suppression 
of  this  nefarious  traffic.  In  1823,  the  house  of 
commons  unanimously  adopted  a  series  of  resolu- 
tio'!!  with  the  ultimate  view  of  emancipating  all 
slaves  within  the  British  dominions.  The  parlia- 
ment of  Great  Britain  had  peculiar  facilities  for 
doing  this.  It  had  unlimited  power.  The  slaves 
were  not  a  constituent  part  of  their  own  popula- 
tion, but  in  remote  and  feeble  islands,  having  no 
voice  in  the  government  at  home,  and  whom  a  few 
ships  of  the  line  could  awe  into  obedience.  In 
1826,  the  same  resolutions  were  adopted  unani- 
mously by  the  house  of  lords.  A  little  before  this, 
Mr.  Buxton  and  Mr.  Canning  had  introduced  the 
resolutions  for  the  more  lenient  treatment  of  the 
slaves,  especially  as  regards  religious  instruction 
and  their  social  condition.  And,  in  1833,  a  more 
decisive  course  of  action  was  adopted  5  and  the 
memorable  bill  passed,  which,  at  an  expense  of 
£  20,000,000,  as  an  equitable  consideration  to  the 
planters  for  the  slaves,  resolved  on  the  entire  abo- 
lition of  slavery  throughout  the  British  colonies. 
But,  as  we  have  already  seen,  Great  Britain,  in 


SLAVERY.  245 

opposition  to  repeated  expostulation  and  strong 
remonstrance  from  such  men  as  Franklin,  Adams, 
and  Hancock,  had  extended  the  evils  of  slavery, 
and  diffused  this  malignant  plague  throughout 
lands  to  which  the  omnipotence  of  her  parliament 
could  no  longer  be  extended.  Though  long  since 
abolished  in  New  England,  slavery  was  introduced 
into  that  country  soon  after  its  settlement.  But  it 
was  in  a  form  modified  and  mitigated  by  the  spirit 
and  principles  of  the  Bible.  While  the  cupidity 
of  New  England  had  done  much  to  replenish  the 
slave  market  of  the  south,  the  institutions  of  the 
Mosaic  law  were  professedly  the  model  of  her  own 
slavery.  It  was  early  enacted  in  the  Massachu- 
sets  colony,  that  "  all  slaves  shall  have  the  liberties 
and  Christian  usage  which  the  law  of  God  esta- 
blished in  Israel  concerning  such  persons,  doth 
morally  require."  The  law  in  the  state  of  Con- 
necticut is  thus  expressed  by  Judge  Reeve,  in  his 
law  of  baron  and  femme.  ''  Slavery  here  was  very 
far  from  being  of  the  absolute  and  rigid  kind. 
The  master  had  no  control  over  the  life  of  his 
slave.  If  he  killed  him,  he  was  liable  to  the  same 
punishment  as  if  he  killed  a  freeman.  He  was  as 
liable  to  be  sued  by  the  slave  in  an  action  for  beat- 
ing, or  w'ounding,  or  for  immoderate  chastisement, 
as  he  would  be  if  he  had  thus  treated  an  appren- 
tice. A  slave  was  capable  of  holding  property  in 
character  of  a  devisee,  or  legatee.  If  the  master 
should  take  away  such  property,  his  slave  would 
be  entitled  to  an  action  against  him.     Slaves  had 

21* 


246  SLAVERY. 

the  same  right  of  hfe  and  property  as  apprentices  5 
and  the  difFerence  between  them  was  this, — an 
apprentice  is  a  servant  for  a  time,  and  a  slave  is  a 
servant  for  hfe." 

And  where  the  Bible  has  begun  to  exert  this  in- 
fluence, it  does  more.  It  gradually  remedies  the 
evil,  and  wears  it  away.  It  did  in  Massachusetts, 
and  slavery  was  abolished  by  their  constitution.  It 
did  in  Connecticut,  and  statutes  were  passed  in 
1783  and  1797,  which  have  in  their  gentle  and 
gradual  operation,  totally  extinguished  slavery  in 
that  State.  It  did  in  New  Jersey  by  an  act  of  the 
legislature  in  1784.  It  did  in  Pennsylvania,  by  a 
similar  act  in  1780.  In  New  York,  for  a  long  series 
of  years,  the  Bible  appears  to  have  exerted  little 
influence  in  mitigating  the  condition  of  the  slave. 
"The  master  and  mistress  were  authorized  to 
punish  their  slaves  at  discretion,  not  extending  to 
life  or  limb,  and  each  town  was  authorized  to  ap- 
point a  common  whipper  for  their  slaves,  to  whom 
a  salary  was  to  be  allowed.  In  the  year  1740,  it 
was  observed  by  the  legislature,  that  all  due  en- 
couragement ought  to  be  given  to  the  direct  im- 
portation of  slaves,  and  all  smuggling  of  slaves  con- 
demned, as  an  eminent  discouragement  to  the  fair 
trader !"  The  criminal  code  against  them  was 
fearfully  severe.  When  capitally  impeached,  they 
were  often  tried  out  of  the  ordinary  course  of  jus- 
tice, and  denied  the  rights  and  privileges  of  free 
subjects  under  like  accusations.  They  were  con- 
victed on  suspicion  and  on  testimony  that  would 


SLAVERY.  247 

have  been  rejected  by  any  court  where  a  white 
man  was  the  accused  person.  In  1741  on  the  dis- 
covery of  what  was  called  the  "negro  plot,"  thirteen 
were  adjudged  to  the  stake  in  our  own  city.*  The 
last  execution  of  this  kind  was  witnessed  at  Pough- 
keepsie  shortly  before  the  commencement  of  the 
revolutionary  vvar.f  But  this  severity  could  not 
long  be  sustained  in  a  Christian  land.  In  process 
of  time  the  penal  code  against  slaves  was  meliora- 
ted 5  facihties  were  multiplied  for  the  manumission 
of  slaves  5  and  the  importation  of  slaves  was  at 
length  prohibited.  Laws  were  enacted  also  to 
teach  the  slaves  to  read,  and  a  system  com- 
menced for  the  gradual  abolition  of  slavery.  Till 
at  length,  by  the  act  of  the  31st.  of  March,  1817, 
it  was  declared  that  every  subject  of  the  State, 
from  and  after  the  4th  day  of  July,  1827,  shall  be 
free.  And  now  tell  me,  where  except  in  Christian 
lands,  can  any  such  history  of  slavery  be  found  as 
this  ?  Is  it  not  true  that  the  Bible  has  silently  and 
gradually  so  meliorated  the  relation  between  the 
master  and  the  slave,  that  in  the  progress  of  its 
principles  and  spirit,  it  must  ultimately  either 
abolish  this  relation,  or  leave  it  on  a  basis  of  the 
purest  benevolence ! 

\     I  am  pained  to  say,  that  slavery  in  no  very  miti- 
'  gated   form   still    exists   in   these   United    States. 


*  Smith's  History  of  New  York. 
■{•  Kent's  Commentaries. 


248  SLAVERY. 

I  There  are  Christian  masters  to  whom  the  evils 
land  abuses  of  slavery  are  unknown.  Nor  are 
'they  few.  And  yet  there  are  abuses  in  this  system 
which  it  is  high  time  were  eradicated.  I  speak 
not  now  of  those  physical  evils  to  which  these  our 
suffering  fellow  men  are  subjected,  but  of  the  do- 
mestic wrongs,  the  intellectual  ignorance,  and 
jmoral  debasement  to  which  they  are  doomed.  The 
slave  population  of  the  south  are  by  law  forbidden 
to  read  5  they  may  not  unlock  the  treasures  of 
human  and  divine  knowledge.  This  cannot  be 
right.  This  must  be  an  offence  in  the  sight  of 
.<jrod.  Christian  men  at  the  south,  high-minded 
land  honourable  men  should  adopt  early  measures 
to  remove  this  evil.  They  scarcely  know  how 
such  a  policy  appears  to  impartial  minds  of  all 
lands.  The  condition  of  slaves  in  the  southern 
States  is  described  by  Chancellor  Kent,  to  be 
"  more  analagous  to  that  of  the  slaves  of  the  an- 
cients, than  to  that  of  the  villeins  of  feudal  times, 
both  in  respect  to  the  degradation  of  the  slaves, 
and  the  full  dominion  and  power  of  the  master. 
The  statute  regulations  with  regard  to  slaves,  follow 
the  principles  of  the  civil  law,  and  are  extremely 
severe,  but  the  master  has  no  power  over  life,  or 
limb  5  and  the  severe  letter  of  their  laws  is  soft- 
ened and  corrected  by  the  humanity  of  the  age, 
and  the  spirit  of  Christianity."  This  is  a  suf- 
ficiently melancholy  picture  from  such  a  pen. 
We  lament  it  5  we  deeply  lament  it  before  God 
and  the  world.     Nor  is  this  the  worst.     It  is  esti- 


SLAVERY.  249 

mated  in  a  recent  and  important  work  on  the  slave 
trade,  by  Mr.  Buxton,  of  the  Enghsh  parHament, 
that  not  less  than  one  thousand  negroes  are,  even 
at  this  late  period  of  the  world,  every  day  torn 
from  their  homes  in  Africa,  by  the  horrible  cupi- 
dity of  their  fellow  men. 

And  how  shall  the  evil  be  remedied  ?  Just  as 
the  Bible,  and  all  sound  experience  tell  us  it  has 
been  remedied  ; — through  the  influence  of  the  gos- 
pel, by  the  power  of  Christian  truth,  by  the  meek- 
ness and  gentleness  of  Christian  men.  Crossness, 
calumny,  obstinacy,  and  fury  are  not  the  remedy. 
Angry  passions  and  bitter  invective  are  not  the  re- 
medy. Strife  and  ill  will,  accrimonious  discussions 
and  sanguinary  war  are  not  the  remedy.  These 
will  throw  a  thousand  obstacles  in  your  path,  and 
involve  you  in  endless  difficulties,  and  create  need- 
less enemies  and  opposition.  Who  does  not  see 
that  it  has  done  so  already  ?  and  that  in  Virginia, 
in  Kentucky,  in  Maryland,  and  in  the  District  of 
Columbia,  a  very  sensible  and  inauspicious  change 
has  taken  place  within  a  very  few  years  in  the  sen- 
timents of  the  public  in  relation  to  slavery  ?  The 
late  Dr.  Griffin,  one  of  the  most  devoted  friends  of 
the  coloured  race  in  this  land,  said  to  me  a  few 
months  before  his  death,  "  I  do  not  see  that  the 
efforts  in  favour  of  immediate  emancipation,  have 
effected  any  thing  but  to  rivet  the  chains  of  the 
poor  slave."  Is  not  this  a  lamentable  fact  ?  Deeply 
as  this  evil  was  laid  in  the  foundations  of  our  coun- 
try, it  has  already  disappeared  in  many  portions  of 


250  SLAVERY. 

it,  driven  away  by  the  spirit  of  the  gospel  and  of 
Hberty  5  and  if  we  are  to  expect  its  entire  banish- 
ment, we  must  look  for  it  in  the  operation  of  the 
same  gentle,  yet  not  less  effectual  causes  which 
have  hitherto  lightened  the  sorrows  of  the  captive, 
and  led  the  north  to  free  herself  from  this  stain. 
We  would  remedy  the  evil  by  the  light  of  truth, 
by  the  ardour  of  love,  by  the  soft  mercies  that  dis- 
til from  the  olive  branch  of  peace,  by  the  balm  of 
Gilead.  The  recklessness  of  dissention,  the  disu- 
nion of  our  body  politic,  and  its  consequent  horrors 
will  be  disastrous  both  to  the  master  and  the  slave. 
Desperate  haste  and  inconsiderate  heedlessness 
will  but  defeat  their  object.  And  where  do  we 
find  the  authority  and  encouragement  to  such  a 
course  ?  In  the  wishes,  but  not  in  the  judgment  5 
in  the  unthinking,  and  I  fear  at  times  designing- 
fanaticism  of  a  few  modern  reformers,  but  not  in 
past  experience  5  not  in  calm,  foreseeing  benevo- 
lence 5  and  above  all,  we  find  it  not  in  the  word  of 
I  God.  Believe  me,  my  young  friends,  there  is  "  a 
more  excellent  way."  You  may  shut  out  the  light 
of  truth  from  the  master  and  the  slave  5  you  may 
give  birth  to  unsleeping  jealousies  and  bitter  ani- 
mosity which  a  century  cannot  assuage  j  you  may 
divide  the  land  which  is  otherwise  destined  to  be 
the  glory  of  the  church  and  the  world ;  and  you 
will  have  only  bound  faster  the  chains  which  would 
have  relaxed  and  fallen  off*,  and  have  paralyzed  the 
hands  of  Ethiopia  just  as  she  was  "  stretching  them 
out  unto  God."     Hesitate  then,  ere  you  throw  your- 


SLAVERY.  251 

selves  into  a  stream,  which,  as  passion  and  bitter 
animosity  shall  swell  its  current,  will  launch  you  on 
an  ocean  of  dissension  and  civil  strife.  Pause,  ere 
you  put  your  hands  to  a  mighty  engine,  which, 
when  in  motion,  you  will  have  no  power  to  guide 
or  restrain — perhaps  an  engine  of  destruction,  the 
effects  of  which  may  be  felt  through  coming  cen- 
turies, crushing  the  dearest  interests  of  yourselves 
and  your  posterity.  And  while  you  pause,  will  you 
not  listen  to  the  dictates  of  an  unbiassed  judgment ; 
to  the  best  and  most  enlightened  feelings  of  your 
hearts  ;  will  you  not  consult  that  Book  which, 
while  it  refrains  from  rudely  interfering  with  the 
existing  institutions  of  society,  is  destined,  by  the 
mild  diffusion  of  its  light  and  influence,  to  banish  the 
evils  of  slavery  from  the  world. 


LECTURE  IX. 


THE    INFLUENCE    OF    THE     BIBLE    ON    THE    EXTENT 
AND    CERTAINTY    OF    MORAL    SCIENCE. 


That  which  gives  value  and  excellency  to  the 
religion  of  the  Bible  is  its  truth — its  undeniable, 
undoubted  truth.  Our  belief  of  it  does  not  make 
it  true,  nor  does  our  unbelief  of  it  make  it  false. 
The  great  Author  of  our  nature  has  so  constituted 
the  mind,  that  where  its  moral  bias  is  not  corrupt- 
ed and  perverted,  there  is  nothing  it  more  delights 
in  than  truth.  Even  in  the  meaner  and  less  useful 
sciences,  it  has  no  such  luxury  as  in  the  pursuit  of 
truth.  It  is  narrated  of  Archimedes,  the  celebra- 
ted mathematician  of  Syracuse,  that  during  the 
war  which  raged  between  Hiero  and  the  Romans, 
he  was  not  diverted  from  his  contemplations  even 
by  the  sacking  of  his  native  city,  but  was  killed  by 
a  common  soldier,  while  he  was  in  the  very  act  of 
meditating  a  mathematical  theorem.     I  doubt  not 


MORAL   SCIENCE.  253 

that  you  have  often  sympathized  with  the  soHcitude 
of  this  philosopher,  and  in  some  degree  at  least, 
participated  in  his  ecstacy,  in  that  intense  pleasure 
which  you  have,  almost  insensibly  as  it  were,  de- 
rived from  the  pursuit  and  acquisition  of  truth. 
The  thirsty  clod,  or  drooping  flower,  is  not  more 
really  refreshed,  when  it  drinks  the  long-wished-for 
rain,  than  the  eager  and  panting  mind  is  refreshed 
and  rejoices  as  she  drinks  her  fill  at  some  pure 
fountain  of  knowledge.  It  were  grateful  to  know^ 
did  the  acquisition  only  exalt  and  expand  the 
mind  5  but  it  is  still  more  grateful  when  we  recol- 
lect, that  truth  opens  so  many  other  sources  of 
enjoyment — enjoyment  that  is  valuable,  because  it 
is  pure  and  enduring,  that  never  palls  on  the  intel- 
lectual appetite,  and  which,  the  oftener  it  is  re- 
peated, is  the  more  sure  to  be  repeated  without 
satiety. 

It  is  not  every  man  who  has  the  opportunity  of 
augmenting  these  sources  of  enjoyment.  Nature 
perhaps  has  denied  him  the  talents,  or  the  provi- 
dence of  God  has  withheld  from  him  the  means 
of  extensive  intellectual  acquisition.  And  there- 
fore his  mind  is  narrow,  his  faculties  are  degraded, 
his  taste  for  pleasure  is  uncultivated  and  coarse, 
and  he  is  too  apt  to  be  dependant  upon  the  grati- 
fications of  sense.  Especially  have  these  remarks 
force,  as  they  relate  to  the  various  branches  of  mo- 
ral science.  Men  may  be  ignorant  in  very  many 
departments  of  human  knowledge  with  comparative 
impunity  5  but  there  are  subjects  of  intellectual  re- 
22 


254  MORAL   SCIENCE. 

search  in  which  every  man,  without  distinction  of 
rank  and  condition,  has  a  deep  and  everlasting  in- 
terest. A  being  who  is  the  creature  of  account, 
and  destined  to  immortahty,  whatever  else  he  tnay 
forego,  may  not  be  ignorant  of  moral  and  religious 
truth. 

We  have  seen  in  the  progress  of  these  lectures, 
that  the  world  is  not  a  little  indebted  to  the  Bible 
for  its  advancement  in  various  departments  of  hu- 
man knowledge.  But  we  should  have  very  inad- 
equate impressions  of  what  we  owe  to  this  sacred 
volume,  did  we  limit  them  by  the  information  it 
communicates  in  the  departments  o^  human  know- 
ledge merely.  The  knowledge  which  most  deeply 
interests  us  is  that  which  relates  to  the  destinies 
of  man  as  the  creature  of  God  and  the  heir  of 
immortality.  Other  knowledge  has  principal  re- 
ference to  the  present  world,  and  terminates  with 
the  present  life  j  this  refers  to  the  soul,  and  is  last- 
ing as  eternity. 

We  are  scarcely  aWare  how  little  the  world 
knows,  or  ever  has  known  of  religious  truth,  for 
which  it  is  not  altogether  indebted  to  this  sacred 
Book.  We  cannot  indeed  form  any  distinct  and 
just  conception  of  the  intellectual  condition  of  our 
race,  had  the  light  of  a  supernatural  revelation 
never  shone  upon  our  doubt  and  darkness.  The 
present  actual  condition  of  those  portions  of  the 
human  family  who  are  destitute  of  the  Scriptures, 
degraded  and  dark  as  they  are,  does  not  furnish  a 
faithful  developement  of  the  still  deeper  and  more 


MORAL    SCIENCE.  255 

profound  darkness  which  would  have  rested  on  them, 
had  the  light  of  heavenly  truth,  instead  of  having  been 
once  enjoyed,  and  subsequently  extinguished,  never 
shone  upon  them.  The  design  of  this  lecture  there- 
fore, is  to  mark  as  clearly  as  we  can  in  the  compass 
of  a  single  exercise,  the  influence  of  the  Bible  upon 
the  researches  and  certaintif  of  moral  science. 

It  has  been  customary  with  a  certain  class  of 
men  to  represent  in  glowing  colours  the  powers 
of  human  reason;  to  eulogize  and  almost  deify  the 
intellectual  faculties  of  man,  and  to  give  them  so 
high  a  place  as  to  dispense  with  the  light  of  a  su- 
pernatural revelation.  Not  a  little  has  been  said, 
and  much  better  than  we  can  say  it,  to  dispel  this 
illusion.  Moral  and  religious  truth  is  a  field  which 
the  lights  of  reason  have  never  explored,  and  un- 
aided, can  never  explore.  Under  the  direction  of 
perfectly  sanctified  affections,  she  might  indeed 
have  been  a  safe  and  sure  guide,  so  far  as  her 
limited  powers  could  extend.  Unfallen,  she  might 
discover  the  expressive  indications  of  her  Maker's 
will  and  glory  in  his  works  and  providence,  and 
every  where  read  his  truth,  "  clearly  seen,  being 
understood  by  the  things  that  are  made."  But  the 
"  gold  has  become  dim,  and  the  most  fine  gold  can 
be  changed."  Her  once  eagle  eye  is  darkened  and 
benighted.  This  once  lofty  intelligence  is  fallen, 
its  vision  dimmed,  and  its  faculties  weakened  and 
perverted.  I  do  not  know  a  more  fruitful  source 
of  error  than  confidence  in  the  undirected,  and 
therefore  misdirected,  powers  of  the  human  min4 


256  MORAL    SCIENCE. 

in  its  inquiries  after  religious  truth.  It  is  the 
IIqiotov  xpwdog^  the  radical  error  of  all  false  re- 
ligions, and  of  every  deviation  from  the  true.  It 
would  seem  that  rationalists  have  forgotten,  or  are 
unwilling  to  acknowledge  the  extent  of  man's  apos- 
tacy.  They  have  exalted  the  powers  of  human 
reason  to  an  elevation  known  only  to  unfallen  hu- 
manity, and  have  paid  a  reverence  to  its  dictates 
which  belongs  only  to  the  infinite  and  unerring  In- 
telligence. I  do  not  hesitate  to  say,  that  the  man 
who  does  not  construct  his  theory  of  moral  science 
upon  the  broad  basis  of  human  apostacy,  and  who 
is  not  deeply  sensible  that,  at  every  step  of  his  pro- 
gress, he  has  to  contend  not  only  with  a  depraved 
heart  and  an  erring  conscience,  but  also  with  an 
understanding  that  is  darkened  and  defiled,  is  sure 
to  construct  one  that  is  visionary  and  wild.  It  is 
lamentable,  that  the  age  of  extravagant  encomium 
upon  the  intellectual  powers  of  man  has  not 
ceased.  Who,  in  a  Christian  audience,  is  not 
weary  of  these  misplaced  and  ill-timed  commenda- 
tions ?  What  have  the  boasted  powers  of  reason, 
unaided  and  unillumined  by  light  from  heaven,  ever 
achieved  ?  Where  are  their  splendid  victories 
over  the  empire  of  darkness  ?  What  are  the  con- 
clusions to  which  they  have  arrived,  the  results 
which  they  have  adopted  and  defend  ?  After  fol- 
lowing them  through  all  the  intricacies  and  dark- 
ness of  their  labyrinths,  into  what  world  of  light  do 
they  conduct  us  ? 

We    cannot    answer    these    inquiries   without 


MORAL    SCIENCE.  257 

taking  a  passing  glance  at  some  of  the  leading 
religious  principles  of  pagan  philosophers  and  more 
modern  deists,  and  showing  their  utter  insufficien- 
cy to  answer  the  great  ends  of  religion.  Of  the 
former  we  may  truly  say,  that  it  is  painful  and 
even  disgusting  to  contemplate  the  ignorance  of 
the  most  celebrated  of  their  number  on  almost  all 
moral  and  rehgious  subjects.  Their  endless  dif- 
ferences and  inconsistencies  upon  topics  which 
they  conceived  to  be  of  the  highest  importance, 
were  such  that  one  would  think  it  impossible  for 
themselves  even  to  have  any  confidence  in  their 
own  speculations.  Such  too  was  the  immorality 
of  their  doctrines,  that  wherever  they  were  believ- 
ed they  could  not  fail  to  exert  a  pernicious  in- 
fluence upon  the  opinions  and  practices  of  men. 
Some  believed  in  the  existence  of  a  God  5  others 
did  not.  Some  were  unitarians  5  others  were 
polytheists.  Every  country  had  its  deities  which 
differed  from  all  others : — some  in  the  heavens — 
some  in  the  air — some  in  the  ocean — some  in  the 
infernal  regions — while  some  were  deified  heroes 
and  men.  Every  thing  about  their  religion  was 
dark,  confused,  and  imperfect.  As  we  have  al- 
ready seen,  they  were  the  grossest  idolaters,  and 
their  religious  rites  were  distinguished  by  all  that 
is  impure  and  cruel.  They  were  utterly  ignorant 
of  any  method  of  salvation,  as  well  as  any  effectual 
means  for  the  attainment  of  holiness.  They  had 
no  definite  notions  of  the  end  for  which  man  was 
created,  or  of  that  in  which  his  highest  happiness 

22* 


258  MORAL    SCIENCE. 

consists.  Of  the  resurection  of  the  body,  they 
knew  nothing,  and  were  in  a  state  of  painful  sus- 
pense concerning  the  immortahty  of  the  soul. 
They  spoke  of  Elysium  and  Tartarus,  but  these 
were  poetical  fancies  rather  than  any  just  concep- 
tion of  the  doctrine  of  rewards  and  punishments. 
The  insufficiency  of  their  religion  is  every  where 
proved  from  its  defective  discoveries  of  the  being 
and  character  of  the  only  true  God  *,  from  the  ab- 
surdities of  their  worship  j  from  their  ignorance  of 
the  true  sources  of  human  enjoyment ;  from  their 
imperfect  rules  of  duty,  and  ineffectual  motives  to 
obedience  5  from  their  utter  darkness  on  the  great 
subject  of  pardon  for  the  guilty,  and  the  utter 
powerlessness  of  their  systems  to  arrest  and  sub- 
due the  power  of  moral  corruption.* 

And  what  more  has  reason  done  for  the  pagans 
of  modern,  than  for  those  of  ancient  times  ?  Pass 
through  heathen  lands  5  visit  the  savage  tribes  of 
Africa  and  our  own  continent;  travel  over  Hin- 
dostan  and  China  ^  and  you  will  see  how  little  un- 
aided reason  can  effect  in  discovering  a  system  of 
rehgious  truth.  Sorcery,  divination  and  magic  5 
the  transmigration  of  souls  into  animals  and  vege- 
tables after  death ;  endless  superstitions  and  gross 


*  See  these  positions  illustrated  at  length  in  Halyburton's 
Enquiry.  The  ablest  dissertation  I  have  met  with  on  this  gene- 
ral  to'pic  is  from  the  pen  of  the  late  Dr.  John  M.  Mason,  entitled 
"Hints  on  the  insufficiency  of  the  light  of  nature."  Vol.  III. 
p.  405. 


MORAL    SCIENCE.  259 

darkness  are  the  acknowledged  characteristics  of 
their  religion.  There  is  indeed  an  imposing  my- 
thology 5  there  is  the  grandeur  of  temples,  the 
decoration  of  altars  and  priests,  and  idols  5  there 
is  the  pomp  of  their  ritual,  and  the  gaity  of  their 
festivals;  while^the  awful  tragedy  is  distinguished 
by  nothing  more  certainly  than  the  wild  and  wan- 
ton dance;  the  sanguinary  procession,  and  the 
bones  of  men  offered  to  their  idol  deities  bleaching 
under  the  arid  sky. 

If  you  ascend  somewhat  higher  than  these  deg- 
radations of  paganism,  and  enquire  what  reason 
has  achieved  among  deistical  philosophers,  what 
do  you  find  but  systems  of  materialism  and  irre- 
sponsibility— a  world  uncaused  and  ungoverned — 
a  deity  who  is  neither  wise,  nor  good — conceptions 
that  are  obscure  and  unsatisfying — and  systems  of 
dark  uncertainty  and  unhinging  scepticism  that 
agitate,  without  convincing  the  mind  ?  Deism,  it 
is  to  be  hoped,  has  seen  its  best  days.  From  the 
early  part  of  the  seventeenth  century,  when  a  few 
men  in  France  and  Italy  began  to  form  them- 
selves into  a  society  for  the  purpose  of  propagating 
the  doctrines  of  pure  Theism  in  opposition  to 
Christianity,  down  to  the  latter  part  of  the  eigh- 
teenth century,  when  so  many,  distinguished  minds 
both  on  the  continent  of  Europe  and  in  Great 
Britain,  rejected  the  gospel  under  a  pretence  of 
veneration  for  the  One  true  God,  human  reason 
made  its  best,  and  probably  its  last  efforts  in  favour 
of  natural  religion.     And  yet  nothing  more  clearly 


260  MORAL    SCIENCE. 

distinguishes  this  system  than  that  it  professes  to  he 
no  system.  It  acknowledges  the  existence  of  God  5 
professes  to  follow  the  hght  and  law  of  nature,  and 
rejects  all  divine  revelation.  With  this  standard 
it  seemed  for  a  while  to  be  marching  through  the 
world,  and  because  it  quieted  the  minds  of  men  in 
sin,  multiplied  its  converts  without  inquiry  and 
without  conviction.  But  it  was  destined  to  over- 
throw itself.  It  was  never  any  thing  better  than 
a  refined  sort  of  paganism.  Nor  had  it  indeed 
half  the  conscience,  or  half  the  stability  of  pagan- 
ism itself.  At  first  it  was  pure  Theism,  or  natural 
religion-,  then  it  became  bold  infidelity 5  then 
materialism  5  then  scepticism  5  then  it  denied  a 
providence,  and  then  a  God.  Reason  became  its 
deity :  there  was  no  God  but  Reason.  And  now, 
for  the  first  time  elevated  to  the  throne  of  the  uni- 
verse, reason  began  to  be  alarmed  for  her  own 
safety,  and  resolved  that  there  was  a  God.  And 
then  she  began  to  tread  her  way  back  to  the  Bible. 
There,  and  there  only  does  she  discover  the  God 
whom  the  understanding  delights  in,  and  at  whose 
authority  conscience  bows.  It  is  a  remark  wor- 
thy of  being  remembered,  that  "however  deists 
may  deride  and  scoff"  at  the  Bible,  it  is  a  fact  capa- 
ble of  the  clearest  proof,  that  had  it  not  been  for 
the  Scriptures,  there  would  not  at  this  time  be 
such  a  thing  as  pure  Theism  upon  earth.  There 
is  not  now  in  the  world  an  individual  who  believes 
in  one  infinitely  perfect  God,  whose  knowledge  of 


MORAL    SCIENCE.  261 

this  truth  may  not  be  traced  directly,  or  indirectly 
to  the  Bible.* 

There  is  another  fact  which  is  enough  to  wean 
our  confidence  from  the  more  arrogant  claims  of 
human  reason  5  I  mean  its  utter  failure  in  the  great 
department  of  intellectual  philosophy.  Employing, 
as  this  department  has  done,  some  of  the  most 
erudite  and  powerful  minds,  its  whole  history  has 
furnished  melancholy  indications  of  the  blindness 
and  uncertainty  of  that  dependance  which  men 
have  placed  in  their  own  intellectual  powers. 
Though  giant  minds  have  grappled  with  the  theme 
with  all  their  freshness  and  vigour,  what  has  been 
more  fluctuating  than  the  principles  of  this  science 
from  the  days  of  the  schoolmen  down  to  the  time 
of  Reed,  Stuart  and  Brown  ?  Who  now  confides 
in  the  visionary  system  of  Malbranche ;  in  the  no- 
tions of  Locke,  with  respect  to  the  origin  of  our 
ideas  5  or  in  the  idealism  of  Berkley  and  Collier  ? 
Who  believes  in  the  annihilation  both  of  the  world 
of  matter  and  of  mind,  as  advocated  by  Hume  5 
in  the  monads  of  Leibnitz ;  in  the  vibrations  and 
associations  of  Hartley  *,  in  the  negations  of  Kant  5 
or  in  the  transcdentalism  of  Coleridge  and  Cousin  ? 
And  yet,  which  of  these  systems  has  not,  in  its 
turn,  been  extolled  as  the  subhmest  effort  of  human 
genius,  and  sharing  honour  with  the  most  impor- 
tant improvements  in  human  knowledge  ?     Aside 


*  Evidences  of  Christianity  by  A.  Alexander,  D.  D. 


262  MORAL    SCIENCE. 

from  the  few  principles  of  intellectual  philosophy 
which  are  obviously  deducible  from  the  Scrip- 
tures, what  evidence  have  we  that  a  single  half 
century  will  not  witness  an  entire  revolution  in 
this  important  science  ?  How  little  confidence 
then  is  to  be  placed  in  the  vaunted  powers  of  hu- 
man reason  ?  If  she  has  learned  so  little  in  the 
science  of  mind,  how  much  less  will  she  learn  in 
the  science  of  religion  ?  If  her  fairest  systems  of 
mental  philosophy  are  so  undetermined  and  chang- 
ing, what  can  she  accomplish  in  framing  and  build- 
ing up  a  fair  and  stable  system  of  moral  and  reli- 
gious truth ! 

It  is  no  difficult  matter  therefore,  to  discover  the 
appropriate  influence  of  the  Bible  upon  the  re- 
searches and  certainty  of  moral  science.  It  is 
just  the  influence  that  is  needed.  It  is  paramount 
to  every  other  j  is  extensive  as  the  wants  of  the 
soul,  and  the  sphere  of  religious  truth ;  is  perfect 
and  can  receive  no  accessions.  It  illumines  where 
men  are  ignorant,  and  decides  and  establishes 
where  reason  hesitates  and  our  minds  are  in  doubt 
and  uncertainty.  Let  us  contemplate  it  a  single 
moment  in  these  two  aspects. 

In  the  first  place,  it  extends  the  sphere  of 
moral  science.  It  reveals  all  truth.  It  keeps 
back  nothing  that  is  best  for  a  fallen  creature  to 
know.  An  intelligent  child  of  six  years  of  age, 
educated  in  the  bosom  of  a  Christian  family,  knows 
more  on  moral  and  religious  subjects  than  Socrates 
or  Plato.     We  are  scarcely  aware  of  the  vast  ex- 


MORAL    SCIENCE.  263 

tent  and  compass  of  religious  truth  with  which  the 
the  Scriptures  are  so  perfectly  familiar.  We  listen 
to  their  instructions  so  frequently,  that  the  thought 
is  not  always  present  to  our  minds,  that  they  are 
inculcating  truths  which  none  but  God  knows. 
They  point  us  back  to  the  eternity  which  the 
Creator  inhabited  before  the  foundation  of  the 
world,  and  forward  to  the  eternity  we  shall  inhabit 
after  this  world  shall  have  passed  away.  They 
lead  our  minds  up  to  Him,  who,  though  he  dwells 
in  light  unapproachable  and  fills  the  universe,  is 
about  our  path  and  about  our  bed  5  on  whom  all 
beings  depend  from  the  archangel  to  the  worm ; 
and  who,  while  he  is  slow  to  anger  and  of  great 
kindness,  is  terrible  in  majesty.  They  make  us 
acquainted  with  his  vast  and  perfect  purposes, 
comprehending  all  his  works  and  all  the  events  of 
his  providence  in  this  world  and  other  worlds,  in 
time  and  through  interminable  ages.  They  direct 
our  thoughts  to  the  great  law  which  he  has  pub- 
lished, and  by  which  he  establishes  the  moral  order 
and  harmony  of  the  universe.  They  lead  us  to 
take  a  view  of  that  world  of  wonders — man — a 
mystery  to  himself,  and  yet  more  than  all  the 
works  of  God,  the  means  of  eliciting  the  manifold 
glory  of  his  Maker.  They  proclaim  to  us  the 
glad  tidings  of  great  joy  through  the  incarnation 
and  death,  resurrection,  intercession,  and  media- 
torial reign  and  triumph  of  the  Son  of  God.  They 
make  us  acquainted  with  the  character  and  offices 
of  the  Divine   Spirit,  under  whose  transforming 


264  MORAL    SCIENCE. 

influence  the  soul  is  brought  out  of  darkness  into 
marvellous  light,  and  though  by  nature  guilty  and 
impoverished,  is  enriched  and  adorned,  and  made 
meet  to  be  a  partaker  of  the  inheritance  with  the 
saints  in  light.  They  make  us  familiar  with  the 
import  of  momentous  and  melancholy  themes — 
death  and  the  grave  5  with  the  resurrection  both 
of  the  just  and  the  unjust.  They  pour  a  light 
upon  our  path  by  which  we  descry  the  vast  conti- 
nent, the  boundless  immortality  that  stretches  itself 
away  immeasurably  beyond  our  thoughts,  and  then 
lift  the  curtain  where  scenes  and  prospects  rise 
that  alternately  appal  and  enchant  us — the  Son  of 
man  coming  in  the  clouds  of  heaven — the  throne 
of  judgment — the  final  sentence — the  everlasting 
retribution.  How  long  would  human  reason  have 
been  clouded  in  mist,  how  long  groped  in  dark- 
ness, had  not  the  light  dawned  that  has  made  such 
disclosures  ?  He  who  knows  all  things,  and  sees 
as  clearly  at  midnight  as  at  noon  day,  not  only 
becomes  the  light  of  reason,  but  even  condescends 
to  reveal  to  faith  what  our  limited  and  imperfect 
reason  may  not  in  many  instances  comprehend. 
His  intelligence  is  everlasting;  he  is  the  centre 
of  thought,  the  law  of  all  laws,  and  the  last  and 
supreme  reason  of  all  things.  It  belongs  to  him 
to  originate  and  reveal  the  truths  we  are  to  re- 
ceive 5  and  even  though  they  may  not  be  compre- 
hended by  us,  yet  are  they  all  clear  and  plain  to 
him.  Let  the  man  who  thirsts  for  knowledge, 
who  is  wearied  in  his  pursuit  of  truth,  and  who 


MORAL   SCIENCE.  265 

feels   dissatisfied   with    all   that   reason   has  ever 
taught  him,  repair  to  the  Scriptures  and  see  how 
fast  he  will  learn  under  such  a  teacher.     What 
amazing  resources  does  he  possess,  when  he  be- 
comes  the    possessor   of   the   Bible !     What   an 
ocean  of  knowledge  does  he  carry  in  the  hollow 
of  his   hand  when  he  grasps  that  sacred  book! 
What  uncreated  wisdom  seems  then  to  be   con- 
tained within  the  limits  of  his  finite  intelligence ! 
When  once  a  mind  eager  in  the  pursuit  of  know- 
ledge begins  in  earnest  to  learn  from  this  book  of 
God,  it  continually  advances.     There  are  no  limits 
to  these  exhaustless  instructions.     As  the  intellec- 
tual powers  and  faculties  expand  and  brighten  by 
thought  and  prayer,  as  sinister  and  unworthy  ends 
are   lost   sight   of  and   superseded   by  the   more 
steady  and  unalloyed  love  of  the  truth,  the  sphere 
of  vision  is  enlarged — one  degree  of  attainment 
facilitates  the  acquisition  of  another — the  more  is 
known,  the  greater  will  be  the  capacity  of  know- 
ing, till  light  poured  is  upon  the  hitherto  benighted 
mind  from  every  opened  page,  and  it  increases  in 
the  knowledge  of  God  till  it  beholds  him  as  he  is. 
But  the  Scriptures  do  not  merely  extend   the 
limits  of  moral  science.     In  the  second  place,  they 
fix  its  certainty.  ■  They  reveal  nothing  as  the  ob- 
ject of  conjecture,  but  every  thing  as  of  absolute 
knowledge.     The  truths  they  disclose  are  not  mat- 
ters of  opinion  5  they  are  facts,  facts  ascertained 
by  the  God  only  wise,  and  the  reality  of  which 
depends   on   his   veracity  speaking   in   his   word. 

23 


266  MORAL    SCIENCE. 

There  is  no  foundation  in  the  nature  of  things,  for 
uncertainty  in  moral,  rather  than  in  natural,  or 
mathematical  science.  Every  thing  which  men 
perceive,  and  about  which  they  think  and  reason, 
is  either  certainly  true,  or  certainly  false.  Inde- 
pendently of  all  our  views  and  the  views  of  others, 
distinct  from  all  the  notions  we  derive  from  cus- 
tom and  education,  irrespective  of  all  our  caprice, 
prejudice,  and  ignorance,  there  is  such  a  thing  as 
religious  truth.  There  is  in  the  nature  of  the 
case,  no  ground  for  doubt  and  uncertainty. — 
Though  not  decided  by  the  same  kind  of  evidence 
by  which  we  resolve  an  equation,  or  demonstrate 
a  theorem,  or  determine  the  nature  and  causes  of 
disease,  it  is  not  on  that  account  the  less  certain. 
Where  infinite  intelligence  and  integrity  bear  wit- 
ness, there  can  be  no  room  for  uncertainty.  All 
farther  inquiry  is  out  of  place.  One  declaration 
of  the  God  of  truth  is  paramount  to  all  the  philo- 
sophical theories,  and  all  the  opposing  systems  of 
faith  the  world  ever  beheld.  It  is  amusing  to  hear 
some  modern  religionists  talk  about  a  more  ra- 
tional religion  than  the  religion  of  the  Bible ! 
What  can  be  more  rational  than  the  wisdom  of 
God  ?  "  Who  hath  been  his  counsellor,  and  who 
hath  instructed  him  ?"  A  suffering,  but  godly  man, 
was  once  asked  if  he  could  see  any  reason  for 
the  dispensation  which  caused  him  so  much  agony. 
"  No  *,"  replied  he,  "  but  I  am  as  well  satisfied  as 
if  I  could  see  ten  thousand.  God's  will  is  the 
very  perfection  of  all  reason."     So  of  the  revela- 


MORAL    SCIENCE.  267 

tions  of  his  truth.  They  are  the  perfection  of  all 
reason.  The  reason  that  is  opposed  to  them  is 
not  reason,  but  folly.  We  need  not  be  surprised, 
therefore,  that  the  Scriptures  claim  for  themselves 
certain  knowledge  j  for  how  can  it  be  otherwise, 
since  they  come  from  God  ?  Nor  should  it  be  any 
matter  of  surprise  to  us  that  those  who  truly  re- 
ceive the  Bible  should  regard  it  as  an  unerring 
standard,  and  be  established  in  its  truths.  "  Lord, 
to  whom  shall  we  go,  but  unto  thee  ?  Thou  hast 
the  words  of  eternal  life  5  and  we  believe  and  are 
sure  that  thou  art  that  Christ,  the  Son  of  the  living 
God !"  Men  who  love  the  Bible,  know  that  it  is 
true.  They  have  not  merely  learned  to  bow  their 
understanding  to  the  decisions  of  infinite  wisdom, 
but  they  have  felt  its  power.  Its  truths  accord 
with  their  own  experience.  They  perceive  their 
excellence  and  beauty.  They  have  felt  them; 
they  have  handled  them  *,  they  have  tasted  and 
enjoyed  them  5  and  those  wants  of  the  soul  which 
have  so  long  been  mocked,  and  deluded,  and  unre- 
lieved, have  found  in  them  that  satisfaction  and 
peace  which  have  elsewhere  been  sought  in  vain. 
"  Do  not  wonder,"  says  the  devout  Pascal,  "  to  see 
some  unsophisticated  people  believe  without  rea- 
soning. God  inclmes  their  hearts  to  believe.  They 
judge  by  the  heart,  as  others  do  by  the  under- 
standing. The  Holy  Scripture  is  not  a  science 
of  the  understanding,  but  of  the  heart.  It  is  in- 
telhgible  only  to  those  who  have  an  honest  and 
good  heart.     Charity  is  not  only  the  end  of  the 


268  MORAL    SCIENCE. 

Holy  Scriptures,  but  the  entrance  to  them."  Men 
who  are  born  of  God,  are  begotten  through  the 
truths  of  the  Bible ;  they  are,  as  it  were,  born  into 
them,  and  they  form  the  aliment  of  their  spiritual 
being.  They  have  had  access  to  the  tree  once 
guarded  by  flaming  cherubims  5  they  have  plucked 
its  fruit,  have  breathed  its  fragrance  and  perfume, 
and  know  indeed  that  it  is  the  tree  of  life. 

Nor  is  it  a  consideration  of  Httle  moment,  that 
the  Scriptures  fix  the  certainty  of  religious  truth. 
Few  principles  are  of  higher  importance  than  that 
truth,  so  far  as  it  is  attained,  can  be  known  with 
certainty.  It  is  one  thing  to  be  on  the  whole  per- 
suaded, and  another  to  be  assured.  It  is  one  thing 
to  view  a  proposition  undulating  between  the  dif- 
ferent gradations  of  probability,  and  established 
only  by  the  preponderance  of  probabilities  j  and 
another  to  consider  truth  beyond  the  influence  of  a 
doubt.  If,  after  patient  investigation,  there  were  few 
subjects  but  may  be  unsettled  by  a  corrupt  phi- 
losophy 5  if,  after  a  laborious,  impartial,  and  pray- 
erful study  of  the  Scriptures,  it  were  impossible  to 
arrive  at  any  other  conclusion  than  conjecture, 
we  might  well  feel  ourselves  involved  in  "  an  hor- 
ror of  great  darkness."  I  cannot  easily  conceive 
of  a  more  painful  state  of  mind.  Perhaps,  indeed, 
there  is  no  feeling  in  the  human  bosom  so  distress- 
ing as  suspense  and  uncertainty,  be  the  subject 
what  it  may.  Man  needs  firm  ground  whereon  to 
place  his  feet,  and  not  the  marsh  or  quicksand, 
that  trembles  beneath   him.     He   has  a  singular 


MORAL    SCIENCE.  269 

power  to  brace  his  courage  to  a  level  with  his  con- 
dition, and  to  endure  with  fortitude  those  evils 
which,  before  their  arrival,  seemed  almost  insup- 
portable. But  a  state  of  hesitation  between  hopes 
and  fears  is,  if  possible,  more  tormenting  than  the 
fulfillment  of  his  worst  apprehensions.  The  haunt- 
ing fear,  the  agony  of  suspense,  prostrate  his  ener- 
gy *,  and  to  escape  these,  he  often  leaps  to  grapple 
with  the  dread  realities.  Where  then  can  be  im- 
agined a  more  dreadful  state  of  mind  than  one  of 
uncertainty  as  to  the  most  important  and  vital 
moral  subjects  ?  Is  there  such  a  being  as  God  ? 
Is  there  a  future  state  of  immortal  existence  ?  Is 
there  pardon  for  the  guilty  ?  At  what  rate  shall 
we  estimate  the  misery  of  the  mind  that  ponders 
upon  these  momentous  questions  with  doubt  and 
uncertainty  ?  To  hang  over  the  deep  current  into 
which  generations  have  sunk,  while  the  eye  finds 
nothing  but  darkness,  nor  even  a  ripple  which 
shows  the  spot  where  they  disappeared ;  to  lean 
over  the  abyss  to  see  whether  perhaps  it  might 
discover  some  faint  outline  of  the  world  beneath ; 
whether  some  gloomy  echo,  or  some  response  of 
joy,  some  sound  of  mourning,  or  some  song  of 
praise,  shall  tell  the  dreadful  mystery  j  what  indis- 
cribable  anxiety  is  this !  But  not  thus  is  it  with 
men  who  have  the  Bible.  From  these  unerring 
pages  speaks  a  voice  that  is  echoed  back  from 
every  bosom  of  the  hving,  every  tomb  and  monu- 
ment of  the  dead.  If  every  thing  were  conjecture 
elsewhere,   here   every   thing   is   certainty.     We 

23* 


270  MORAL    SCIENCE. 

know  now  the  value  and  the  true  business  of  hfe. 
And  if  we  are  misled  and  perplexed  by  the  sha- 
dows of  uncertainty,  it  is  because  we  "  love  dark- 
ness," and  prefer  to  trace  our  dubious,  hesitating 
course,  under  the  dim  torchlight  of  reason,  to  be- 
ing led  by  that  book  which  eternal  wisdom  has 
revealed  to  be  a  "  light  to  our  feet  and  a  lamp  to 
our  path." 

But  you  will  ask  me,  Has  human  reason  no  place 
in  the  pursuits  of  moral  science  ?  She  has  a  defi- 
nite and  definable  place.  It  is  her  province  to  as- 
certain that  there  is  a  God,  and  that  he  is  a  being 
of  infinite  power,  knowledge  and  rectitude.  It  is 
her  province  to  ascertain  that  he  is  able  to  make  a 
revelation  of  his  will  to  men,  and  with  such  evi- 
dence of  its  reality  that  she  can  believe  and  know 
that  it  comes  from  him.  It  is  her  province  to  in- 
quire and  judge  whether  the  persons  who  speak  in 
his  name  were  truly  sent  by  him,  and  to  become 
assured  that  what  they  have  spoken  and  written  is 
in  sober  verity  his  own  word.  It  is  her  province 
to  look  at  the  difficulties,  and  weigh  well  all  the  ob- 
jections, to  the  plenary  inspiration  of  the  sacred 
volume  j  and  to  be  the  more  severe  in  her  scrutiny 
because  this  volume  claims  to  be  the  only  infallible 
rule  of  faith  and  practice.  Nor  does  her  province 
terminate  here.  While  it  belongs  not  to  her  to 
erect  herself  into  a  tribunal  before  which  the  truth 
of  God  must  appear  to  be  judged,. it  at  the  same 
time  belongs  to  her  to  inquire  and  ascertain  what 
this  divinely  inspired  book  contains.     This  she  must 


MORAL    SCIENCE.  271 

do  diligently,  humbly,  and  with  becoming  meek- 
ness. Having  ascertained  that  this  is  the  book  of 
God,  she  may  task  all  her  powers  and  all  her  learning, 
and  what  is  more,  all  her  fairness  and  candour,  to 
ascertain  the  true  sense  and  import  of  the  sacred 
writers.  Her  views  of  religious  truth  she  must 
draw  directly  from  the  Scriptures.  She  is  not 
merely  to  call  in  the  aid  of  the  Bible  in  confirma- 
tion of  her  own  opinions,  but  to  begin  her  investi- 
gations with  this  divine  source  of  knowledge.  The 
evidence  of  the  truth  she  receives  is  the  divine  tes- 
timony, and  she  has  nothing  to  do  but  ascertain  and 
receive  it.  She  may  not  interfere,  nor  hesitate, 
where  the  God  of  truth  has  decided.  Her  business 
is  to  stand  a  silent  inquirer  at  the  shrine  of  these 
Oracles,  and  there  hear  what  God  the  Lord  hath 
spoken.  Her  object  is  to  get  at  their  philosophy, 
and  not  her  own.  She  must  take  leave  of  her 
lofty  independance  and  dignity,  if  she  would  learn 
of  Christ.  Her  philosophical  speculations  have 
nothing  to  do  in  ascertaining  the  meaning  of  the 
Scriptures.  Nor  can  we  give  too  great  emphasis 
to  this  thought.  Men  are  very  apt,  where  they 
have  any  fixed  views  of  the  laws  which  regulate 
mind,  to  look  at  God's  truth  through  the  medium 
of  their  own  philosophy.  If  for  example,  God  de- 
clares that  the  human  race  are  sinners  from  their 
birth,  they  hesitate  at  such  a  statement,  because 
according  to  their  received  opinions,  the  infantile 
mind  is  not  capable  of  sin.  If  God  declares  that 
the  moral  renovation  of  men  is  effected  by  his  own 


J^2  MORAL   SCIExXCE. 

mighty  power,  they  call  in  question  this  decision, 
because,  according  to  their  philosophy,  the  mind 
is  an  existence  which  is  incapable  of  being  acted 
upon  except  by  light  and  motives.  Instead  of  al- 
lowing the  Bible  to  influence  their  philosophy,  they 
allow  their  philosophy  to  become  the  arbitrary  in- 
terpreter of  the  Bible.  Instead  of  submitting  their 
judgments  to  the  decisions  of  the  uncreated  intel- 
ligence, they  require  that  his  intelligence  should  be 
subordinate  to  their  own.  There  are  few  Chris- 
tian divines  that  have  not  to  some  extent  fallen  into 
this  error.  This  was  eminently  the  error  of  Ori- 
gin, of  Cocceius,  of  Hutchinson,  and  of  Sweden- 
borg.  This  is  the  error  of  the  Pelagians  and  Ar- 
minians  of  ancient  and  modern  times.  This  is  the 
error  also  to  some  extent  of  the  Calvinistic  and  Hop- 
kinsian  schools.  Nay,  this  is  the  error  of  most  of 
us,  heterodox  and  orthodox.  Strange  to  say,  we 
cannot  forbear  inweaving  the  shreds  of  our  own 
philosophy  with  the  wisdom  of  God.  We  do  it  in- 
sensibly. But  human  reason  was  never  given  to 
man  for  such  a  purpose.  When  she  has  ascer- 
tained the  true  import  of  God's  revelation,  her 
work  is  done.  To  attempt  more  than  this,  is  re- 
bellion against  God — nay  it  is  rebellion  against  her- 
self, for  reason  decides,  and  decides  intuitively, 
that  "  if  we  believe  the  testimony  of  man,  the  tes- 
timony of  God  is  greater."  It  has  been  well  re- 
marked, that  "  periods  in  which  the  pride  of  phi- 
losophy has  been  most  exalted,  have  often  been 
distinguished  for  the  widest  departures  from  the  sim- 


MORAL    SCIENCE.  273 

plicity  of  Scriptural  theology."  Human  reason  is 
never  so  truly  in  her  proper  place  as  when  she  sits 
a  learner  at  the  feet  of  Christ.  How  can  she  soar 
on  a  loftier  wing  than  when  she  flies  so  near  the 
Sun  as  to  veil  her  face  and  lose  her  vision  in  the 
brightness  of  his  rays  ?  It  is  not  reason  that  guides 
the  soul  then,  but  God.  It  is  a  heavenly  hght — a 
guide  from  a  purer  and  more  intellectual  world. 
It  is  reason,  but  not  her  own — a  reason  that  never 
hesitates,  never  toils,  and  never  becomes  weary  5 
a  reason  that  is  never  prejudiced,  partial  or  be- 
nighted, and  that  neVer  errs. 

We  think  it  therefore,  no  small  commendation  of 
the  Bible,  that  it  is  the  only  book  that  has  opened 
to  the  world  the  extended  field  of  moral  science,  and 
so  marked  and  limited  the  path  of  human  inquiry, 
that  if  the  mind  wanders,  it  can  never  be  said  that 
it  is  for  want  of  light.  Few  truths  come  to  us 
with  such  overpowering  evidence,  as  the  truths  of 
the  Bible.  The  cheerless  gloom  which  broods 
over  the  understandings  of  men  had  never  been 
chased  away,  but  for  the  beams  of  this,  supernatu- 
ral revelation.  Men  may  look  with  an  unfriendly 
eye  on  that  system  of  truth  which  reproves  and 
condemns  them  5  while  they  little  know  the  loss 
the  world  would  sustain  by  subverting  its  founda- 
tion. We  have  tried  paganism  5  we  have  tried 
Mahometanism  5  we  have  tried  deism  and  philoso- 
phy *,  and  "  we  cannot  look  upon  them  even  with 
respect."  The  Scriptures  contain  the  only  system 
of  truth  which  is  left  us.     If  we  give  up  th#e,  we 


/ 


274  MORAL    SCIENCE. 

have  no  other  to  which  we  can  repair.  We  must 
travel  back  under  the  faint  and  trembhng  Hghts  of 
reason  and  nature,  where  "  darkness  covers  the 
earth  and  gross  darkness  the  people."  We  must 
wander  amid  the  regions  of  fancy  and  scepticism, 
where  there  is  n^  argument  to  convince,  and  no 
oracle  to  decide.  Every  thing  we  see,  and  hear, 
and  feel,  becomes  more  and  more  the  source  of 
solicitude  and  apprehension,  and  the  farther  we 
extend  our  views,  unless  guided  by  this  heavenly 
light,  we  behold  only  a  vaster  desert — a  deeper 
abyss  of  doubt,  darkness  and  despair.  Between  re- 
flections upon  ourselves,  and  reflections  upon  God  5 
between  just  views  of  his  character  and  our  own, 
•  we  see  no  ground  for  hope.  We  are  burthened 
^  with  a  sense  of  our  sin,  misery,  and  darkness,  and 
\long  in  vain  for  some  quiet  resting  place — some 
(covert  from  the  tempest — some  shadow  of  a  great 
jrock  in  this  weary  land — something  which  has 
"  the  promise  of  the  life  that  now  is,  and  that 
whigh  is  to  come."  We  strive  to  break  our  bond- 
age, but  every  struggle  binds  us  faster  in  our 
chains,  and  is  only  the  ineftectual  effort  of  a  mind 
separated  from  God  to  restore  by  its  own  wisdom 
its  lost  fellowship  with  its  Maker.  We  counsel 
you  therefore  to  cleave  to  this  unerring  word  of 
God.  And  we  counsel  you  not  to  be  satisfied 
with  mere  inteflectual  attainments.  A  mere  intel- 
lectual" acquaintance  with  the  Bible  is  not  godli- 
ness. They  know  too  much  of  religion,  far  too 
much|for  their  future  comfort,  who  know  more 


MORAL    SCIENCE.  275 

than  they  obey.  We  claim  for  the  Bible  and 
for  the  truth  it  inculcates,  not  only  the  submis- 
sion, the  admiration  of  your  understanding,  but 
the  submission  and  admiration  of  your  heart. 
Ah,  my  young  friends,  where  else  can  you  find  a 
moment's  repose,  when  you  have,  once  cast  away 
your  confidence  in  the  instructions  of  God's  word  ? 
Cast  away  this  confidence,  and  there  is  a  chasm 
before  you  which  nothing  can  fill — an  abyss, 
across  which  your  dark,  uncomforted  minds  throw 
their  anxious  glance,  and  feel  that  all  their  light 
and  hopes  are  extinguished.  You  would  wonder 
why  you  had  been  created  with  such  insatiable 
desires  after  truth,  such  a  thirst  for  the  knowledge 
of  God,  and  yet  coufd  find  nothing  to  gratify  them. 
Nor  would  this  inquietude  ever  pass  away,  until 
you  had  returned  to  the  Bible.  The  sundered 
bond  would  then  be  made  whole  5  the  separating 
chasm  filled  5  the  darkness  dissipated  5  the  agitated, 
despairing  mind  at  peace. 


LECTURE  X. 


THE    PRE-EMINENCE    OF    THE    BIBLE    IN    PRODUCING 
HOLINESS    AND    TRUE    RELIGION. 


We  have  just  turned  our  attention  to  the 
influence  of  the  Bible  upon  the  extent  and  cer- 
tainty of  moral  science.  We  advance  this  eve- 
ning a  step  beyond  speculations  like  these,  how- 
ever momentous.  We  look  at  man  not  as  the 
creature  of  intellect  and  thought  merely,  but  as 
the  creature  of  feeling,  of  moral  sensibility  and 
affection :  and  we  look  at  the  Bible  not  merely  as 
exerting  an  influence  upon  his  intellectual,  but 
upon  his  active  and  moral  powers,  and  forming 
the  only  character  by  which  he  becomes  fitted  for 
the  presence  and  enjoyment  of  God  his  Maker. 
We  here  take  our  leave  of  those  happy  influences 
which  this  wonderful  book  exerts  upon  the  learn- 
ing and  literature  of  the  world  5  upon  its  laws  and 
liberties;   upon   its   social  institutions   and  moral 


TRUE   RELIGION.  277 

virtues,  as  well  as  upon  the  mere  intellectual  sphere 
of  religious  truth.  And  may  I  not  hope  that  God 
will  indine  your  hearts  to  accompany  me  with  the 
same  interest  with  which  you  have  accompanied 
me  thus  far,  though  it  be  in  inquiries  more  spirit- 
ual than  those  which  have  hitherto  occupied  our 
attention  ?  If  the  things  of  time  alone  absorb  our 
thoughts  5  if  the  present  is  that  alone  in  which  we 
feel  an  interest  while  we  are  heedless  of  the  fu- 
ture*, then  do  we  ourselves  present  melancholy 
proof  of  that  moral  infatuation  which  has  not  yet 
learned  to  appreciate  the  Holy  Scriptures.  What 
does  it  profit  a  man,  though  "  he  have  all  know- 
ledge," and  yet  remain  unacquainted  with  God? 
"  What  is  he  profited,  if  he  shall  gain  the  whole 
world,  and  lose  his  own  soul  ?"     It  is  the  crown 

AND    glory    of    the    BIBLE    THAT   IT   IS    THE    ONLY 
MEANS  OF  HOLINESS  AND  TRUE  RELIGION. 

A  moment's  reflection  upon  the  nature  and  des- 
tinies of  the  human  soul,  will  teach  us  that  moral 
rectitude  alone  can  raise  it  to  its  true  greatness. 
Were  it  possible  for  this  great  perfection  to  be  de- 
tached from  the  character  of  God  himself  5  were 
that  divine  nature,  now  so  glorious,  to  be  stripped 
of  the  "beauties  of  holiness  j"  instead  of  being  re- 
vered and  loved,  he  would  be  the  object  of  suspi- 
cion and  fear,  and  could  no  longer  be  contemplated 
but  with  terror  and  dismay.  The  higher  a  being 
is  in  intellectual  power,  the  more  debased  is  he, 
and  the  more  were  he  to  be  dreaded,  were  he  des- 
titute of  holiness.    Holiness  constitutes  the  beauty, 

24 


278 


TRUE   RELIGION. 


the  amiableness,  the  loveliness  of  the  intelligent 
nature,  in  whatever  being,  or  whatever  world  it  is 
found. 

Man  is  not  by  nature  the  friend  of  God.  He  has  no 
inherent  moral  dignity— no  native  innocence—no  na- 
tural meetness  for  heaven.  Under  every  form  of  hu- 
man society,  Pagan,  Jewish,  Mahometan  and  Chris- 
tian, all  are  by  nature  the  slaves  of  sin.  There  was  a 
judicial  connexion  between  the  first  offence  of  our 
progenitor  and  the  sin  and  condemnation  of  his  pos- 
terity. "  By  the  offence  of  one,  judgment  came  upon 
all  men  to  condemnation."  It  is  a  search  too  elevat- 
ed for  fallen  men  to  acquaint  themselves  with  God. 
There  is  no  "  contact  of  heart"  between  them  and 
the  great  Father  of  spirits.  No  hours  of  leisure, 
no  retirement  of  the  closet,  no  silence  of  the  dawn 
or  evening  witnesses  their  aspirations  after  the 
"  first  Fair  and  the  first  Good."  "  God  is  not  in  all 
their  thoughts,"  but  is  excluded  alike  from  their 
toil,  their  recreation,  and  their  joys.  Nay,  even 
in  the  pensiveness  and  agony  of  their  sorrows,  how 
few  are  there  who  say, "  Where  is  God  my  Maker, 
that  giveth  songs  in  the  night?"  How  immense 
the  distance,  how  deep  the  chasm  between  fallen 
man  and  the  Holy  One !  The  mind,  the  heart,  the 
will,  bound  together  by  common  bonds,  acting  and 
reacting  upon  one  another  by  a  thousand  unseen 
and  uncontrolled  influences,  all  combined  in  the 
unhallowed,  the  treasonable  revolt ! 

And  how  can  such  a  being  become  holy  ?    By 
what  instrumentality  is  a  creature  thus  apostate  to 


TRUE    RELIGION.  279 

be  restored  to  the  image  of  his  Maker  ?  By  what 
agencies  is  he  to  be  prepared  for  that  world  whose 
blessedness  consists  in  deliverance  from  sin,  and  in 
the  perfect  and  everlasting  enjoyment  of  its  Great 
Author  and  glory  ?  What  is  the  starting  point, 
and  what  the  impulse  under  which  so  degraded, 
benighted,  depraved  a  being  enters  upon  this  new 
moral  career  ?  How  shall  he  begin,  in  that  grow- 
ing transformation  of  character  which  in  itself 
constitutes  one  of  the  chief  elements  of  salvation, 
and  one  of  the  principal  elements  of  the  heaven 
where  God  dwells  ?  Is  it  by  the  doctrines  of  hu- 
man philosophy  ?  Is  it  through  the  influence  of 
good  government  ?  Is  it  by  the  power  of  false 
religion  ?  Or  is  it  only  by  the  power  of  the, 
Bible  ? 

The  view  we  have  already  taken  of  the  pagan 
world  shows  nothing  more  clearly  than  that  men 
have  never  become  holy  by  the  mere  culture  of 
the  intellect.  "Where  is  the  wise?  Where  is 
the  disputer  of  this  world  ?  Hath  not  God  made 
foolish  the  wisdom  of  this  world  V  Nothing  is 
more  definitely  asserted  in  the  word  of  God,  or 
more  fully  and  abundantly  illustrated  in  the  history 
of  man,  than  that  "  the  world  by  wisdom,  knew  not 
God."  However  the  mind  may  be  improved  by 
culture,  expanded  and  refined  by  science,  and  ele- 
vated by  the  moralizing  influence  which  mere  hu- 
man agency  may  supply  5  there  still  remains  a 
melancholy,  nay,  an  invincible  tendency  to  evil. 
The  alienation  of  the  heart,  does  not  arise  from 


280  TRUE    RELIGION. 

intellectual  imbecility,  or  intellectual  ignorance. 
The  love  of  science  is  not  the  love  of  God.  Re- 
ligion is  indeed  not  a  little  indebted  to  the  re- 
searches of  human  science  j  but  unhappily  it  is  no 
uncommon  thing  for  men  endued  with  the  most 
splendid  genius  and  the  most  liberal  acquisition  in 
human  science,  to  be  distinguished  for  depravity  of 
heart.  True  religion  is  not  a  mere  intellectual 
theory,  a  philosophic  system  5  nor  does  a  man  be- 
come the  disciple  of  Christ  in  the  same  way  in 
which  he  becomes  the  disciple  of  Plato,  or  New- 
ton. Never  was  a  lesson  more  effectually  taught 
by  the  experience  of  our  race,  than  that  intellectu- 
al culture  cannot  produce  holiness.  The  learn- 
ing of  the  Scribes  and  Pharisees  did  not  prevent 
them  from  rejecting  the  Saviour  5  but  rather 
qualified  and  tempted  them  to  stand  forth  his  ma- 
lignant and  infuriate  opposers.  The  absurdities 
of  a  debased  pagan  ritual,  were  never  confined  to 
the  ignorant  and  uninformed.  Socrates  and 
Seneca,  Solon  and  Lycurgus  bowed  at  the  altars 
of  Jupiter  and  Apollo.  Idolatry  erected  her  tem- 
ples amid  the  groves  of  the  Academy,  and  pub- 
lished her  sanguinary  and  licentious  code  amid  all 
the  fight  and  learning  of  the  Augustan  age.  No 
instance  is  to  be  found  where  a  nation,  or  an  in- 
dividual, ever  became  the  friend  of  God  through 
the  influences  of  mere  intellectual  cultivation.  At 
the  period  when  our  blessed  Lord .  came  into  the 
world,  intellect  had  made  its  highest  efforts  5  phi- 
losophy had  exhausted  all  her  vigour  and  acute- 


TRUE    RELIGION.  281 

ness  5  Greece  and  Rome  had  furnished  the  most 
splendid  examples  of  reasoning  and  eloquence — 
examples  so  splendid,  that  next  to  the  Bible,  they 
remain  to  the  present  day,  the  acknowledged 
standards  of  elegance  and  power  5  and  yet  they  left 
the  world  "  without  God  and  without  hope,"  and 
full  of  that  "  unrighteousness  and  ungodliness  of 
men,"  against  which  "wrath  is  revealed  from 
heaven."  What  has  intellectual  culture  done  for 
modern  Europe  ?  What  has  it  done  for  France 
— the  glory  of  all  lands  for  purely  intellectual 
and  philosophical  research  ?  There  is  not  a 
combination  of  more  learned  or  acute  men  on 
the  earth,  than  the  Royal  Academy  at  Paris. 
Nor  is  there  probably  any  where  to  be  found  a 
society  of  men  more  ignorant  of  God  and  holiness. 
Nor  will  the  institutions  of  civil  government 
make  men  holy.  Civil  government  may  restrain  the 
out-breaking  of  human  corruption  5  may  prevent 
lawless  aggressions  upon  the  welfare  of  society  5 
may  deter  the  abandoned  from  injustice  and  oppres- 
sion 5  and  while  it  is  "  a  terror  to  evil  doers,"  be  "  a 
praise  to  those  who  do  well  j"  but  it  can  never  win 
back  the  heart  of  man  to  God.  What  civil  govern- 
ment can  do  for  men,  it  has  done  already.  It  does 
not  make  men  holy  in  the  best  governed  Christian 
States.  It  does  not  in  Britain  5  it  does  not  among 
ourselves.  It  did  not  in  the  best  governed  repub- 
lics and  empires  of  the  pagan  world.  Not  even 
Antoninus  Pius  could  influence  Rome  to  be  either 
holy  or  virtuous.    All  the  legislative  science  and 

24* 


282  TRUE    RELIGION. 

political  advancement  which  rendered  Athens  and 
Sparta  the  models  of  their  age,  could  not  rescue 
them  from  a  superstitious  polytheism.  Legislators 
as  well  as  philosophers,  have  failed,  and  always 
will  fail  to  regenerate  the  heart.  No  matter  how 
wise  and  equal  the  laws  5  no  matter  what  princi- 
ples of  government,  or  modes  of  legislation  may  be 
adopted  and  enforced  5  no  matter  with  how  much 
skill  the  affairs  of  princes  are  adjusted  j  none  of 
these  things  convey  the  knowledge  of  holiness  and 
salvation.  It  is  an  instructive  fact,  that  while  pa- 
gan nations  were  advancing  from  one  degree  of 
literary  and  civil  refinement  to  another,  their  reli- 
gious character  sunk  in  progressive,  if  not  in  pro- 
portioned degeneracy.  Not  merely  did  it  retain 
its  uncultivated  barbarism,  but  waxed  worse  with 
every  accession  of  human  wisdom.  From  the 
most  exalted,  or  rather  the  least  debasing  system, 
that  of  siderial  worship,  it  descended  to  "  images, 
made  like  to  corruptible  man,  and  to  birds,  and  to 
four-footed  beasts,  and  to  creeping  things."  Never 
did  it  reach  a  lower  abyss  of  degradation,  than 
when  heathen  lands  had  attained  their  acme  of 
civihzation  and  learning.  And  in  a  state  thus  ab- 
ject did  it  continue  "  even  under  the  Ptolemies  in 
Egypt,  and  the  Csesars  in  Rome,"  till  "•  the  fullness 
of  time  was  come  when  God  sent  forth  his  Son." 

Have  then  men  ever  become  holy  through  the  in- 
fluence o^ false  religions  ?  Not  certainly  by  pa- 
ganism, as  we  have  already  seen.  The  Persians  and 
Mohammedans  have,  it  must  be  confessed,  made 


TRUE    RELIGION.  283 

some  advances  in  an  apparent  moral  rectitude  be- 
yond the  abject  wickedness  of  purely  pagan  lands. 
The  Persians  were  the  descendants  of  Elam,  the 
son  of  Shem  5  and  with  the  rest  of  the  nations  early 
fell  away  in  their  apostacy  from  the  worship  of  the 
true  God.  The  purity  of  their  faith  was  revived 
in  the  time  of  Abraham,  but  was  corrupted  again 
before  the  Babylonish  captivity.  It  was  revived 
by  Zoroaster,  who  maintained  that  there  is  one 
supreme  God,  and  a  general  resurrection  and  retri- 
bution to  all  according  to  their  deeds.  But  while 
the  Persian  religion  for  centuries  held  its  sway 
over  a  multitude  of  minds,  it  never  made  men  holy. 
"  The  Persians,"  says  Sismondi  in  his  history  of  the 
downfall  of  the  Roman  empire,  "  had  laws  ema- 
nating from  despotic  power,  which  preserve  order, 
but  which  secure  to  a  nation  neither  justice,  nor 
happiness.  They  had  that  literary  culture  which 
feeds  the  imagination,  but  does  not  enlighten  the 
understanding.  Their  religion  and  their  aversion 
to  idolatry,  satisfied  the  reason,  but  did  not  purify 
the  heart."  It  is  also  worthy  of  remark,  that  for 
all  that  is  venerable  in  antiquity  and  purity,  the 
Persian  rehgion  was  indebted  to  the  Bible.  By 
those  who  are  best  informed  in  oriental  literature, 
Zoroaster  is  represented  to  have  been  "  cotempo- 
rary  with  Daniel,  and  if  not  a  Jew,  yet  perfectly 
acquainted  with  the  Jewish  Scriptures."*     Nor  is 


*  Prideaux's  Connexions,  and  Graves  on  the  Pentateuch. 


284  TRUE    RELIGION. 

it  less  true  that  all  that  is  valuable  in  the  system  of 
Mahomet  was  drawn  from  the  Scriptures  of  the 
Old  and  New  Testament.  Colonies  of  Jews  were 
once  scattered  over  Arabia,  at  a  period  when  the 
reUgion  of  the  Arabians  was  polytheism,  and  when 
there  were  three  hundred  and  sixty  idols  in  their 
principal  temple  at  the  Kaaba  at  Mecca.  The 
character  of  Mahomet  was  austere  ;  his  imagi- 
nation ardent  5  his  temperance  extreme  5  and  he 
was  disposed  to  religious  meditations  and  lofty 
reveries.  His  chief  thought  at  first  was  to  fix 
his  own  belief,  and  purify  it  from  the  supersti- 
tions of  his  country.  He  recognized  as  God  an 
eternal  Spirit,  omniscient,  omnipresent,  and  inca- 
pable of  being  represented  by  any  material  image. 
He  nourished  this  idea  till  the  age  of  forty,  when 
he  resolved  to  become  the  reformer  of  his  nation. 
He  taught  them  the  knowledge  of  the  one  God, 
but  he  called  himself  his  Prophet.  From  the  time 
he  took  this  character,  his  life  lost  its  purity,  his 
temper  its  mildness,  policy  entered  into  his  reH- 
gion,  and  fraud  into  his  conduct.  He  dictated  the 
Koran,  for  he  could  not  read  or  write,  and  the 
sublimity  of  its  language  is  to  Musselmen  a  proof 
of  its  inspired  character.  He  admitted  six  revela- 
tions,— those  of  Adam,  Noah,  Abraham,  Moses, 
Christ,  and  his  own.  The  religion  of  Mahomet 
leaned  toward  fatalism,  but  did  not  deny  the  influ- 
ence of  the  will  in  human  actions.  Nor  did  it  con- 
sist in  doctrines  only,  but  in  the  practice  of  justice 
and   charity.     It   considers  alms-giving  the  most 


TRUE    RELIGION.  285 

rigorous  duty  5  and  the  Koran  exacts  from  a  tenth 
to  a  fifth  of  a  believer's  income  in  charity.  It  en- 
joins prayer,  ablution  and  fastings.  Five  times  a 
day,  a  Musselman  must  pray.  Fasts  were  so  ri- 
gid, that  during  the  month  of  Ramadam,  one  might 
neither  eat,  nor  drink,  nor  enjoy  any  gratification 
from  sunrise  to  sunset.  Before  the  time  of  Ma- 
homet, the  Arabs  enjoyed  unbounded  licence  5  and 
he  forbade  dissoluteness,  only  by  reducing  it  within 
the  bounds  of  expediency  and  law.  The  blood 
of  their  enemies  was  a  sure  passport  to  the  Mo- 
hammedan Paradise.  Every  Musselman,  indeed, 
however  bad,  was  sure  of  Paradise,  after  expiating 
his  sins  a  suitable  time  in  purgatory,  not  to  exceed 
five  thousand  years.  The  most  favorable  exhibi- 
tion of  the  rehgion  of  Mahomet  shows  its  perfect 
powerlessness  to  form  any  thing  like  a  spiritual 
character.  We  have  spoken  of  its  immoral  ten- 
dencies in  a  previous  lecture  5  and  it  were  the 
merest  farce  to  claim  for  it  any  spiritual  influence. 
We  freely  grant  to  these  religions  all  they  can 
claim.  And  the  most  that  can  be  said  of  them  is, 
that  they  are  not  idolatrous.  And  if  they  have 
effected  something  in  supplanting  the  existence  of 
idolatry,  nothing  is  more  obvious  than  that  their 
influence  in  this- particular  is  to  be  attributed  to  the 
Bible.  Wherever  indeed,  men  have  ceased  to  bow 
down  to  the  sun,  moon  and  stars  5  wherever  they 
have  ceased  erecting  pillars  and  statues  on  the 
tops  of  hills  and  mountains  for  the  purpose  of  offer- 
ing sacrifices  to  the  host  of  heaven  5  wherever  they 


286  TRUE    RELIGION. 

have  ceased  erecting  their  temples,  and  their  ima- 
ges, and  offering  their  fruits  to  the  Hght,  the  air, 
the  wind,  the  fire,  the  water,  the  earth  5  wherever 
they  have  renounced  the  grovelhng  superstition 
which  led  them  to  worship  the  darkness,  the  storm, 
the  pestilence  and  the  Furies  5  wherever  they  have 
no  longer  erected  monuments  to  the  memory  of  the 
dead,  and  worshipped  creatures  like  themselves  5 
where  they  have  abandoned  their  homage  of  ani- 
mals and  reptiles,  birds  and  beasts,  plants  and 
herbs  5  where  the  rivers  and  the  woods  are  no 
longer  peopled  with  imaginary  deities  j  where  each 
favoured  city  and  family  has  no  longer  its  peculiar 
guardian  gods  j  where  the  power  of  magic  is  no 
longer  recognized,  and  the  influence  of  oracles  and 
augurs,  of  diviners  and  soothsayers  has  been  re- 
nounced as  idle  and  vain  5  where  it  is  no  longer  a 
proof  of  wisdom  to  attempt  to  disclose  future  events 
by  the  flight  of  birds,  the  recollection  of  dreams, 
and  the  inspection  of  the  entrails  of  beasts  j  we 
may  say,  without  the  fear  of  contradiction,  that 
this  change  has  been  produced  by  the  religion  of 
the  Bible.  Reason  has  not  done  it.  The  institu- 
tions of  civil  government  have  not  done  it.  Hu- 
man science  has  not  done  it.  The  most  fearful 
judgments  have  not  done  it.  Nothing  has  done  it 
but  the  Bible.  But  for  the  Bible,  the  vilest  idola- 
try would  at  this  hour  hold  its  unbroken  sway  over 
the  world. 

Where  then  had  been  the  interests  of  holiness 
without  the  Bible  ?    Whatever  estimate  we  may 


TRUE    RELIGION.  287 

form  of  the  value  of  other  influences  upon  the  hu- 
man character,  this  alone  is  the  means  of  holiness. 
I  do  not  know  but  here  and  there  an  individual 
may  be  found,  who  may  have  become  pious  with- 
out the  truths  of  the  Bible  5  but  I  do  not  recollect 
any  well  authenticated  instance.  "  Faith  cometh 
by  hearing,  and  hearing  by  the  word  of  God.^' 
The  moral  renovation  which  fits  the  soul  for  hea- 
ven is  effected  by  means  which  correspond  with 
its  nature.  "  Of  his  own  will  begat  he  us  with  the 
word  of  truth."  The  Bible  alone  exhibits  those 
appropriate  materials  for  thought  which  are  the 
selected  instruments  of  a  renovated  character. 
There  is  no  wisdom  more  unerring,  no  justice 
more  inflexible,  no  grace  more  tender,  no  authority 
more  commanding,  no  entreaty  more  importunate, 
no  instructions  more  convincing,  and  no  motives 
more  persuasive  and  powerful,  than  are  these  ap- 
pointed means  of  man's  conversion — these  weapons 
which  are  "  mighty  through  God" — this  sword  by 
which  the  conscience  is  penetrated, "  dividing  asun- 
der between  the  joints  and  the  marrow,  the  soul 
and  the  spirit,  and  proving  a  discerner  of  the 
thoughts  and  intents  of  the  heart." 

There  is  one  motive  to  hoUness  which  the  Bible 
unfolds  which  constitutes  its  great  and  distinguish- 
ing peculiarity.  It  is  the  love  of  God  in  the  gifl: 
of  his  Son.  All  the  motives  to  holiness  are  con- 
centrated and  condensed  here,  and  presented  and 
enforced  with  a  power  of  thought  and  feeling  that 
leave  the  most  obdurate  without  excuse.    "We 


288  TRUE    RELIGION. 

beseech  you  by  the  mercies  of  God." — here  lies 
the  strength  of  the  appeal.  The  love  of  God  in 
Christ  is  the  great  expedient  of  winning  the  way- 
ward heart.  "  Holy  love  from  God  to  man  is  what 
the  gospel  reveals  5  holy  love  from  man  to  God  is 
what  the  gospel  inspires."  The  doctrines  of  the 
cross,  in  all  their  richness  and  variety,  in  all  their 
peculiarity  and  tenderness,  and  in  all  their  hum- 
bling and  abasing  influence,  possess  a  marvellous 
adaptation  to  awaken  the  slumbering  mind.  They 
produce  within  it  new  and  powerful  associations. 
While  in  the  most  effective  manner,  they  convince 
of  sin,  of  righteousness,  and  of  judgment,  they 
touch  all  the  springs  of  feeling,  and  form  the 
moral  elements  of  the  new  man.  No  other  truths 
so  deeply  affect  the  mind.  "  Nothing  astonished 
me  so  much  in  all  the  gospel,"  said  a  poor  con- 
verted African,  "  as  to  hear  that  God  is  loveJ^^  A 
prouder  and  more  obdurate  offender  than  he,  once 
said,  "  The  love  of  Christ  constraineth  us."  It  is 
the  glory  of  the  condescending  Deity,  that  "  He 
draws  with  the  cords  of  love."  When  you  tell  a 
world  that  lieth  in  wickedness,  that  the  God  they 
have  offended  is  the  God  of  pardons  5  when  you 
show  them  the  scenes  of  Gethsemane  and  Calvary, 
and  tell  them  how  the  divine  justice  has  been  ex- 
piated by  the  death  of  his  Son  5  while  you  give 
force  and  energy  to  every  other  truth,  and  draw 
around  the  conscience  the  cords  of  every  other 
obligation,  you  make  that  appeal  to  gratitude,  to 
hope  which  is  peculiarly  fitted  to  encourage  the 


TRUE    RELIGION.  289 

trembling  and  move  the  obdurate.  Like  the  rod 
of  Moses  it  rives  the  rocks  of  the  desert.  Until 
the  intelligence  reaches  it  that  there  is  help  in  the 
mighty  Saviour,  the  agitated  mind  in  vain  throws 
around  its  enquiring  glance  for  a  refuge,  and  is 
driven  back  to  the  chambers  of  its  own  desolation 
and  despondency.  "  God  reconciling  the  world  to 
himself  by  Jesus  Christ,"  this  is  the  glory  of  the 
Bible.  This  is  the  truth  to  which  the  Spirit  of  all 
grace  has  given  such  pre-eminence  in  disarming 
the  hostile  heart.  Here  is  the  concentrated  hght 
of  God's  revelation.  Amid  the  thousand  studded 
gems  which  beautify  and  give  such  splendour  to 
the  moral  firmament,  this  is  the  clear  and  bright 
constellation  which  is  always  above  the  horizon, 
and  pointing  high  toward  the  gate  of  heaven. 
Here  are  those  truths  and  motives  which  are  the 
mediate  causes  of  a  spiritual  mind,  and  between 
which  and  the  operations  of  the  Holy  Spirit  there 
is  such  a  coincidence,  that  they  become  the  aliment 
of  a  spiritual  and  divine  hfe.  He  who  knows  the 
heart  of  man  has  selected  this  as  the  best  method 
of  access  to  the  minds  he  has  formed  5  and  like  every 
other  appointment  of  the  Deity,  it  is  full  of  con- 
summate wisdom.  Every  where  the  same,  it  is 
every  where  effectual  in  accomplishing  the  pur- 
poses of  eternal  mercy.  Evidence  enough  there 
is  in  the  world  every  day,  to  convince  us  of  the 
superiority  of  the  Bible  as  the  great  means  of 
holiness  and  salvation.  And  better  days  are  yet 
to  dawn.     Like  the  rain  and  the  snow,  it  shall  not 

25 


290  TRUE    RELIGION. 

return  void.  Like  the  sun  when  he  rises  upon  the 
mists  of  the  ocean,  it  is  destined  to  exhale  all  clouds 
of  error.  Its  heavenly  light  shall  penetrate  the 
dark  corners  of  our  globe ;  the  report  of  its  glad 
tidings,  echoing  from  land  to  land,  shall  roll  through 
the  nations  5  while  "  the  heavens  shall  pour  down 
righteousness,  and  the  earth  bring  forth  salvation." 
But  there  is  a  caution  that  is  not  out  of  place 
while  speaking  of  the  Bible  as  the  means  of  holi- 
ness. If  it  is  not  by  the  learning  and  wisdom  of 
this  world  that  the  soul  is  fitted  for  heaven,  no 
more  is  it  by  the  mere  learning  and  literature  of 
the  Bible.  There  is  reason  to  fear  the  cases  are 
not  few,  in  which  the  Bible  is  regarded  more  as  a 
volume  to  be  described  and  eulogized,  and  as  fur- 
nishing topics  of  intellectual  research,  than  as  a 
directory  to  heaven,  and  a  guide  to  immortality. 
"  The  letter  killeth."  Biblical  learning  is  not  piety. 
A  man  may  be  a  profound  critic,  an  acute  con- 
troversialist, an  able  expositor  j  his  enquiries  and 
reasonings  may  discover  an  enlarged  and  compre- 
hensive acquaintance  with  the  sacred  volume  5 
Ihe  may  employ  all  his  resources  in  the  promotion 
of  biblical  knowledge  5  and  yet  be  at  heart  a 
stranger  to  the  sanctifying  power  of  truth.  In  his 
cold  walks  of  theoretical  science,  he  may  never 
\  once  visit  the  Garden  or  the  Cross.  Or  he  might 
gaze  upon  them  for  half  a  century  with  his  present 
vision,  and  never  discover  the  great  "  mystery  of 
godhness."  The  truths  of  the  Bible  are  compre- 
hended by  the  heart.     To  be  destitute  of  the  "sin- 


TRUE    RELIGION.  291 

gle  eye,"  is  to  be  blind  to  its  transforming  glories. 
"  He  that  loveth  not,  knoweth  not  God,  for  God  is 
love."  The  gospel  is  a  revelation  of  love.  Chris- 
tianity is  love  embodied  in  its  purest  form.  And 
love  can  be  comprehended  only  by  love.  I  look 
upon  no  small  portion  of  the  biblical  criticism  of 
the  present  age  as  a  curse  to  the  Church.  Such 
is  all  the  Rationalism  of  Germany,  and  such  is  the 
modern  Unitarianism  of  our  own  land.  It  is  a 
cheerless  region,  where  the  Rose  of  Sharon  never 
blooms  5  a  bleak  and  wintry  sky,  where  no  ray 
from  the  Sun  of  righteousness  visits  the  sterile  soil. 
How  can  the  branches  flourish  where  not  even  a 
root  is  found  but  is  artfully  unclasped,  or  rudely 
torn  from  the  Living  Vine  ?  As  soon  might  you 
expect  the  feeblest  infant  to  live  and  thrive  cradled 
amid  the  mountain  snows,  as  the  genius  of  Chris- 
tianity to  flourish  in  such  a  cHme.  I  tremble  a.t{ 
recommending  the  literature  of  the  Bible,  lest  I 
should  do  it  at  the  expense  of  its  spirituality.  I 
venerate  the  Scriptures  for  their  historical  re- 
search, for  their  literary  merit,  for  their  legal  and 
political  wisdom,  and  for  their  lofty  principles  of 
liberty  and  morality  5  but  I  venerate  them  un- 
speakably more  because  they  are  "the  wisdom  of 
God  and  the  power  of  God  to  salvation."  Let 
others  win  the  laurels  to  which  human  science 
may  aspire  5  be  it  our's  to  guide  the  wandering  to 
the  feet  of  the  Saviour  5  to  lead  them  to  his  cross ; 
to  strew  the  cypress  over  the  tomb  where  he  was 


292  TRUE    RELIGION. 

laid  5  and  there,  on  that  hallowed  spot,  with  them 
renew  our  faith  and  our  devotion ! 

But  what  is  the  character  of  the  religion  of 
which  the  Scriptures  are  thus  instrumental  ? 
There  is  a  beauty  and  sublimity  in  its  spirit  which 
throw  all  other  religions  into  the  shade.  If  there 
is  a  system  of  truth  which  is  most  obviously  in- 
tended and  fitted  to  refine  and  exalt  the  human 
character,  that  system  is  to  be  found  in  the  sacred 
Scriptures.  When  the  God  of  heaven  unfolded 
his  purpose  of  forming  a  people  to  his  praise,  and 
giving  them  a  character  that  should  correspond 
with  the  elevated  principles  of  his  own  spiritual 
Kingdom,  he  uttered  his  design  in  the  following 
strong  and  emphatic  language.  "A  new  heart 
will  I  give  you,  and  a  new  spirit  will  I  put  within 
you :  and  I  will  take  away  the  stony  heart  out  of 
your  flesh,  and  I  will  give  you  an  heart  of  flesh. 
And  I  will  put  my  spirit  within  you."  What 
amazing  truths  lie  concealed  under  such  a  design ! 
The  character  which  the  Bible  forms  is  formed 
upon  the  highest  model.  And  what  is  that  model  ? 
Is  it  the  insensibility,  the  asperities,  the  anger,  the 
pride,  the  egotism,  the  worldliness  which  are  so 
natural  to  men  ?  Is  it  the  cold  indifference  of  a 
Stoical  philosophy  ?  Is  it  the  affected  tranquillity 
and  ungoverned  voluptuousness  of  the  disciples  of 
Epicurus  ?  Is  it  the  rank,  and  wealth,  and  scep- 
ticism of  the  Academics  ?  Is  it  the  intellectual 
rashness  and  moral  phantoms  of  the  modern  Phi- 
losophists  of  Europe  ?    No,  it  is  none  of  these. 


TRUE    RELIGION.  293 

These  have  had  their  day,  and  done  what  they 
could  to  exorcise  the  foul  fiend  from  the  human 
heart,  and  left  it  more  corrupt  and  wicked  than 
before.  The  Author  of  this  great  and  venerated 
book,  by  this  instrumentality,  imparts  to  men  his 
own  spirit  ^  forms  them  in  his  own  image  ^  com- 
municates to  them  the  elements  of  his  own  divine 
excellence.  It  is  a  character  never  understood 
by  the  world  before,  and  one  which  none  even  of 
the  princes  of  this  world  knew.  The  late  celebra- 
ted Robert  Hall,  in  a  discourse  of  unrivalled  ex- 
cellence upon  the  influence  of  modern  Infidelity 
remarks,  that  "infidelity  robs  the  universe  of  all 
finished  and  consummate  excellence,  even  in  idea. 
The  admiration  of  perfect  wisdom  and  goodness 
for  which  we  are  formed,  and  which  kindles  such 
unspeakable  rapture  in  the  soul,  finding  in  the  re- 
gions of  scepticism  nothing  to  which  it  corres- 
ponds, droops  and  languishes.  The  idea  of  Deity 
is  composed  of  the  richest  elements.  In  the  cha- 
racter of  a  benevolent  Parent  and  Almighty 
Ruler,  it  embraces  whatever  is  venerable  in  wis- 
dom, whatever  is  awful  in  authority,  whatever  is 
touching  in  goodness.  Human  excellence  is 
blended  with  many  imperfections,  and  seen  under 
many  limitations.  It  is  beheld  only  in  detached 
and  separate  portions,  nor  ever  appears  in  any 
one  character  whole  and  entire.  So  that  when  in 
imitation  of  the  Stoics,  we  wish  to  form  out  of 
these  fragments  the  notion  of  a  perfectly  wise  and 
good  man,  we  know  it  is  a  mere  fiction  of  the 

25* 


294  TRUE   RELIGION. 

mind,  without  any  real  being  in  whom  it  is  em- 
bodied and  reaUzed.  In  the  behef  of  a  Deity, 
these  conceptions  are  reduced  to  reahty;  the  scat- 
tered rays  of  an  ideal  excellence  are  concentrated, 
and  become  the  real  attributes  of  that  being  with 
whom  we  stand  in  the  nearest  relation,  who  sits 
supreme  at  the  head  of  the  universe,  and  pervades 
all  nature  with  his  presence."  Although  in  no- 
thing does  man  fallen  and  unregenerate  now  re- 
semble this  exalted  portrait,  yet  is  it  the  great  de- 
sign of  the  Bible  to  recover  and  restore  him  to 
this  pristine  integrity  5  to  elevate  him  above  his 
moral  debasement,  and  re-invest  him  with  the 
moral  dignity,  which  shall  ultimately  make  him 
"  like  unto  the  angels,"  and  "  perfect  as  his  Father 
in  heaven  is  perfect." 

God  is  light.  So  is  the  religion  of  the  Bible. 
It  has  no  fellowship  with  darkness.  Not  one  of 
its  graces  springs  from  stupidity,  or  ignorance,  but 
all  of  them  from  the  knowledge  of  God,  and  from 
a  clear,  connected,  and  comprehensive  view  of  his 
truth.  False  religions  are  founded  in  darkness. 
The  religion  of  the  Bible,  hke  its  Author,  dwells 
in  light.  Light  is  its  element.  God  also  is  love. 
And  so  is  the  religion  of  the  Bible.  "  He  that 
dwelleth  in  love,  dwelleth  in  God,  and  God  in  him. 
He  that  loveth  not,  knoweth  not  God."  There  is 
a  love  which  extends  itself  to  every  sensitive  na- 
ture within  its  knowledge  and  influence  5  which 
overlooks  the  limits  of  place,  birth,  and  condition, 
and  bestows  its  affections  in  accordance  with  the 


TRUE    RELIGION.  295 

character,  capacity,  and  importance  of  its  objects  5 
which  seeketh  not  its  own,  and  terminates  on  ends 
which  leave  out  of  sight  every  personal  and  indi- 
vidual interest :  and  such  a  spirit  is  the  fragrance 
and  perfume  breathed  every  where  through  the 
Bible. 

The  views  and  spirit  of  this  world  are  widely 
different  from  the  views  and  spirit  that  are  trans- 
fused into  the  soul  by  the  Holy  Scriptures.     The 
spirit  of  the  world  is  the  spirit  of  pride  and  inor- 
dinate self-esteem.     It  is  the  pride  of  talent  and 
beauty,  the  pride  of  wealth  and  accomplishments, 
and  the  pride  of  rank  and  office.     It  lives  for  the 
praise  of  men.     In  place  of  this,  the  Bible  imparts 
the  loveliest  of  all  the  graces,  a  heaven-born  hu- 
mility 5  a  lowliness  of  mind  5  a  deep  sense  of  un- 
worthiness  in  the  sight  of  God  5  a  modest  estimate 
of  one's  own  worth,  and  an  unassuming  deport- 
ment before  the  world.     It  is  a  self-condemning, 
self-abasing  spirit  under  the  sentence  of  the  divine 
law  because  we  have  sinned,  and  because  there  is 
mercy  through  Jesus  Christ.     It  is  a  grace  so  re- 
splendent, that  even  the  unfallen   might   envy  it. 
"  Before  honour  is  humility."  The  Bible  commends 
a  humble   religion.     Its  love  is  humble ;  its  faith  is 
humble ;  its  repeiitance  is  humble  5  its  hopes,  its  joys, 
its  raptures  are  all  humble.     Its  heaven  is  humble, 
and  for  nothing  is  it  so  happy  or  desirable  as  that 
it  is  a  world  of  everlasting  humility.     True  great- 
ness is  no  where  found   on   earth,  except   in  an 
humble  mind.     And  never  is  the  archangel  more 


296 


TRUE    RELIGION. 


elevated,  more  truly  great,  than  when  he  bows 
his  head  low  before  the  eternal  throne.  The 
spirit  of  the  world  is  obduracy  and  self-will. 
It  is  invincible  hardness  of  heart.  It  is  impeni- 
tence that  cannot  be  subdued.  It  is  inflexible  per- 
severance in  sin.  Truth  cannot  enlighten  it  5  au- 
thority cannot  control  it ;  wrath  cannot  break,  nor 
the  tenderest  mercy  move  or  melt  its  persisting 
purpose.  In  place  of  this,  the  Bible  imparts  ten- 
derness and  contrition  of  mind.  Under  its  soul- 
subduing  influence,  the  spirit  that  never  shrunk 
from  danger,  nor  wept  under  suflering,  turns  pale 
at  temptation,  shrinks  from  sin,  weeps  over  past 
follies,  and  looks  on  him  whom  men  have  pierced, 
and  mourns.  The  spirit  of  the  world  is  grasp- 
ing and  covetous.  It  is  inordinately  desirous  of 
wealth,  and  excessively  eager  to  obtain  and  possess 
the  treasures  of  time.  It  is  gay,  or  pensive,  as  se- 
cular prospects  wax,  or  wane.  It  is  stagnant  and 
spiritless,  only  when  it  sees  there  is  nothing  to 
gain,  or  to  lose  by  enterprise.  Be  it  disappointed 
or  gratified,  the  more  vehement  are  its  desires, 
and  never  is  it  so  satisfied  as  to  say.  It  is  enough. 
In  place  of  this,  the  Bible  imparts  a  tranquil  and 
happy  confidence  in  the  wisdom  of  Divine  Pro- 
vidence, a  grateful  acknowledgment  of  the  daily 
mercies  which  God  bestows,  a  moderation  in 
those  desires  which  are  directed  to  worldly  enjoy- 
ments, and  that  lifted  eye  which  no  longer  fastens 
on  earth,  but  looks  upward,  where  its  resources 
are  undiminished,  its  treasures  never  fade,  and  a 


TRUE    RELIGION.  297 

crown  of  righteousness  awaits  all  who  love  their 
Lord's  appearing.  The  spirit  of  the  world  is  the 
spirit  of  ambition.  It  is  the  desire  of  power. 
The  object  that  glitters,  and  enchants,  and 
vanishes,  is  to  be  clothed  in  purple,  to  sway  the 
sceptre,  and  wear  the  diadem.  And  the  more  this 
ambitious  desire  is  gratified,  the  more  is  poison 
injected  into  the  deadly  plague.  In  place  of  this, 
the  Bible  imparts  a  deep  impression  of  the  vanity 
of  all  things  beneath  the  sun  j  a  conviction  that 
the  fashion  of  this  world  passeth  away  5  that  the 
yoke  of  Christ  is  rather  to  be  desired  than  the 
proudest  sceptre  j  and  that  it  were  better  to  be  the 
servant  of  the  king  of  kings,  than  the  emperor  of 
the  world.  The  spirit  of  the  world  is  the  spirit  of 
self-indulgence  and  guilty  pleasure.  The  men 
of  the  world  are  lovers  of  pleasure  more  than 
the  lovers  of  God.  Like  the  prodigal  son,  they 
have  wandered  from  their  fathers'  house,  to  feed 
on  the  husks  of  the  wilderness.  They  are  eager 
for  enjoyment,  and  find  it  in  dissipation  of  thought, 
of  feeling,  and  of  deportment,  and  amid  the  alter- 
nate servitude  and  liberty,  pains  and  pleasures 
which  constitute  their  varied  adventures.  Their 
senses  are  flattered  by  the  fleeting  illusion,  and 
they  can  speak  of  nothing,  and  think  of  nothing, 
but  pleasure.  Though  made  up  of  so  many  pieces 
and  scraps,  that  you  wonder  they  are  not  wearied 
in  gathering  it  up,  yet  have  they  no  other  desire 
and  no  other  object.  Lawless  pleasure,  in  all 
the  forms  of  novelty  and  excess,  notwithstanding 


298  TRUE    RELIGION. 

its  shame,  its  infamy,  its  ruin,  is  the  idol  of  their 
hearts  and  the  law  of  their  existence.  In  place 
of  this,  the  Bible  imparts  the  love  of  God  and  duty. 
Pleasures  it  reveals,  but  they  are  found  in  doing 
the  will  of  God  5  in  accomplishing  the  great  end 
of  human  existence,  and  in  those  vivid  hopes  which 
light  up  the  dawn,  and  noon-day,  and  setting  sun 
of  an  ever  brightening  existence.  Those  who 
have  drank  into  its  spirit  do  not  live  for  the  plea- 
sures of  earth,  but  are  carried  forward  by  a  sort 
of  spiritual  instinct,  beyond  this  dense  and  earthly 
wall  by  which  they  are  environed.  The  Bible 
presents  a  prospect  as  much  brighter  and  wider 
than  the  pleasures  of  the  worldhng,  as  are  the 
pleasures  of  holy  thought  and  feeling  and  expecta- 
tion, superior  to  the  day  dreams,  and  grovelling 
pleasures  of  sense.  The  spirit  of  the  world  is  the 
spirit  of  unbelief  It  is  the  spirit  that  rejects  the 
truth  of  God  5  that  has  no  confidence  in  his  decla- 
rations, and  distrusts  his  promises  and  faithfulness. 
It  leans  to  self  It  has  no  wants,  timidity,  or  de- 
spondency, which  its  own  presumption  cannot  re- 
heve.  And  not  until  corruptions  have  kept  their 
ground  so  long  as  to  be  absolutely  ruinous,  and 
the  day  of  hope  so  far  spent  as  to  be  literally  ex- 
hausted, does  the  soul  that  is  under  the  dominion 
of  unbelief,  cry,  and  cry  in  vain,  "  Lord,  save,  or  I 
perish!"  In  place  of  this,  the  Bible  imparts 
faith  in  God  and  confidence  in  his  word.  It 
gives  an  affectionate,  practical  trust  in  the  divine 
testimony  as  recorded  on  its  own   sacred  pages. 


TRUE    RELIGION.  299 

and  that  unshaken  confidence  in  the  divine  charac- 
ter, government,  and  veracity,  which  becomes  the 
great  principle  and  impulse  of  action.  It  gives 
subsistence  to  hope  and  demonstration  to  evidence  5 
and  while  it  appropriates  grace  to  help  in  every 
time  of  need,  it  anticipates  blessings,  which,  though 
unseen  by  the  eye,  are  enjoyed  by  the  heart.  The 
spirit  of  the  world  is  an  unforgiving  and  revenge- 
ful spirit.  It  seeks  injury  for  injury,  and  blood 
for  blood.  What  a  mournful  comment  upon  the 
character  of  man  is  the  savage  maxim,  "  Revenge 
is  sweet!"  In  place  of  this,  the  Bible  enjoins, 
"  Love  your  enemies  5  bless  them  that  curse  you ; 
do  good  to  them  that  hate  you  •,  and  pray  for  them 
which  despitefully  use  you  and  persecute  you." 
This  is  a  spirit  so  unnatural  to  man,  that  it  has 
been  reproached  as  unreasonable  and  absurd,  and 
the  ancients  had  not  even  a  word  to  express  it,  or 
if  they  had,  it  represented  it  as  a  vice  rather  than 
a  virtue.  But  how  worthy  of  its  Author !  how 
sublime !  how  truly  it  bears  the  stamp  of  divinity ! 
The  wisest  moralists  of  the  wisest  nations  and 
ages  represented  revenge  as  a  mark  of  a  noble 
mind.  But  how  different  from  the  mind  of  Christ ! 
and  at  what  an  infinite  remove  from  the  generous, 
exalted  spirit  of  him  who,  as  he  was  sinking  upon 
the  cross,  prayed  for  his  murderers !  The  religion 
of  the  Bible  stands  opposed  to  all  the  selfish  and 
mercenary  affections  of  the  human  heart,  and  just 
so  far  as  it  prevails,  eradicates  and  destroys  them. 
"  If  there  be  any  virtue,  and  if  there  be  any  praise," 


300  TRUE    RELIGION. 

they  are  found  in  the  lofty  spirit  and  high  moral 
virtues  of  a  self-renouncing  religion. 

Such  is  the  exalted  spirit  of  the  Bible,  and  such 
some  of  the  great  and  distinguishing  peculiar^fes  ^^ 
of  the  religion  it  inculcates  and  imparts.  There 
is  one  exalted  Personage,  and  only  one,  in  whom 
the  high  dignity  of  the  Christian  character  was 
fully  and  perfectly  illustrated.  The  example  of 
the  man  Christ  Jesus  perfectly  accords  with  his 
doctrines  and  precepts.  He  copied  out  the  reli- 
gion of  the  Bible  in  his  life.  His  spirit  was 
known,  and  developed,  and  is  perfectly  under- 
stood. He  was  rich,  and  for  our  sakes  became 
poor  j  happy,  and  for  us  became  a  man  of  sorrows 
and  acquainted  with  griefs;  the  Prince  of  life, 
and  died  for  us  on  the  cross,  that  we  might  be 
rich,  and  honoured,  and  happy,  and  live  with 
him.  The  only  reward  he  sought  was  the  reward 
which  alone  could  gratify  his  benevolent  mind  : — 
diseases  healed — sorrows  soothed — tears  wiped 
away — ignorance  enlightened — the  wayward  coun- 
selled— the  desponding  encouraged — the  unholy 
made  pure — the  guilty  forgiven— the  lost  saved. 
This  was  his  reward.  When  men  could  not 
ascend  to  him,  he  descended  to  them.  When 
they  neither  deserved,  nor  sought  his  favour,  he 
gave  it  undeserved  and  unsought.  The  abjectness, 
the  sufferings,  the  sins  of  men  were  the  magnet 
that  drew  him  forth  from  his  retirement  and  ex- 
cited his  commiseration.  No  toil  could  weary,  no 
obstacles  hinder,  no  opposition  discourage,  no  de- 


TRUE    RELIGION.  301 

lay  interrupt,  no  cold  and  thankless  insensibility 
dishearten  him.  From  Bethlehem  to  Calvary,  he 
went  about  doing  good.  The  history  of  men  fur- 
ni#ies  here  and  there  a  splendid  illustration  of  ac- 
tive, self-denying,  devoted  piety  j  and  we  observe 
and  remember  it  as  a  rare  event.  It  is  like  a 
stream  of  water  in  a  dry  place — a  green  spot  in 
the  desert — an  oasis  amid  Arabian  sands.  The 
Hfe  of  Christ  has  no  such  inequalities.  It  does 
not  strike  us  by  its  occasional  and  novel  exhibi- 
tions, for  they  are  uniform  and  constant.  There 
is  something  greatly  affecting  in  the  Saviour's 
spirit.  It  is  more  than  human.  It  belongs  not  to 
earth.  It  was  never  found  except  in  his  own  im- 
maculate bosom. 

Whatever  there  is  of  true  religion  in  the  world 
resembles  such  a  piety  as  this,  though  it  fails  far 
short  of  it.  And  how  unspeakably  above  the 
famed  excellencies  of  heathen  lands !  It  is  piety 
altogether  of  an  original  character.  The  heathen 
genius  never  conceived  it.  It  never  entered  the 
mind  of  this  world's  philosophy  to  form  such  a 
character  as  that  of  Paul  or  Howard.  Such  de- 
velopements  of  mind  and  heart  never  would  have 
been  made  but  for  the  Bible.  It  is  not  easy  to 
conceive  of  a  deeper,  darker  chasm  than  that 
which  would  be  made  by  the  absence  of  these 
principles  which  have  formed  thousands  of  cha- 
racters assimilated  to  these,  and  given  so  high  a 
direction   to   minds  whose  lofty   movement  is  at 

26 


302 


TRUE    RELIGION. 


such  a  distance  from  the  low  and  abject  spirit  of 
this  unbeheving  and  self-indulgent  world. 

Let  it  not  be  supposed  that  this  is  a  light  obliga- 
tion under  which  the  world  is  placed  to  a  super- 
natural revelation.     Holiness  is  the  highest  attain- 
ment of  a  rational  creature.     It  is  the  greatest  good 
which  man  ever  can  acquire.     It  is  the  greatest 
good  in  the  universe.     It  is  greater  than  wealth, 
greater  than  pleasure,  than  honour,  than  happiness. 
It  is  the  only  good  that  may  be  sought  at  all  times, 
under  all  circumstances,  and  at  every  hazard.     It 
is  the  only  good  that  may  be  sought  as  an  end  and 
for  its  own  sake.     A  man  is  not  necessarily  praise- 
worthy because  he  is  happy,  nor  blameworthy  be- 
cause he  is  unhappy.     Seek  therefore,  my  young 
friends,  not  to  be  affluent  and  honourable, — no,  nor 
mainly  to  be  happy.     Seek  what  is  more  sublimely 
excellent,  seek  to  be  virtuous  and  holy.     Seek  that 
your  hearts  may  be  subdued   and  won  to  God  by 
the  power  of  his  own  truth.     No  natural  amiable- 
ness  of  disposition,  no  mere  cultivation  of  intellect, 
no  good  name  in  the  world,  no  unimpeached  recti- 
tude in  your  transactions  with  your  fellow-men,  no 
punctuahty  in  your  attendance  upon  the  ordinan- 
ces of  the  sanctuary,  and  no   external  relation  to 
the  church  of  God  can  be  a  substitute  for  that  in- 
ternal holiness  which  is  an  indispensable  prepara- 
tion for  the  heavenly  world.     O,  when  will  men  un- 
derstand and  feel  that  nothing  possesses  importance 
compared  with  what  relates  to  God  and  eternity ! 


TRUE    RELIGION.  303 

Nothing  within  the  range  of  human  thought  de- 
serves consideration  compared  with  this.  Never  was 
there  stronger  evidence  of  folly  than  that  man  pre- 
sents, who  chooses  this  world  for  his  portion.  If 
tears  could  quench  the  fires  of  that  world  of  tor- 
ment, those  fires  would  be  quenched  at  the  remem- 
brance of  the  folly  that  preferred  this  world  to  the 
salvation  of  the  soul.  And  if  tears  should  be  ever 
shed  in  heaven,  it  will  be  at  the  remembrance  of 
the  supineness,  the  indifference  with  which  those 
of  you  who  have  hope  toward  God  are  directing 
your  way  toward  that  "exceeding  and  eternal 
weight  of  glory." 

A  few  short  years,  if  not  before,  and  you  and  I 
shall  descend  to  the  tomb.  Time  passes  swiftly 
over  the  head  that  rests  beneath  the  clods  of  the 
valley.  As  sleep  that  overtakes  us  at  night,  leads 
us  imperceptibly  and  gently  through  its  long 
watches,  and  we  neither  number  nor  heed  its 
hours,  so  will  coming  centuries  revolve,  and  on  the 
morning  of  a  new  world,  we  shall  wake  as  from  a 
dream  to  stand  before  the  tribunal  of  the  great 
Judge.  To-day,  we  are  upon  the  stream  of  time  5 
to-morrow,  we  are  floated  forth  upon  the  ocean  of 
eternity.  There  is  no  intermediate  state  of  being 
— no  line  of  separation  between  this  world  and  the 
next.  Another  step,  and  we  have  entered  on  the 
world  of  everlasting  retribution.  But  what  retri- 
bution is  it  to  which  we  are  destined  ?  Momen- 
tous question !  Is  it  to  that  world  of  peace  and 
joy )  or  is  it  to  those  regions  of  perturbation  and 


304 


TRUE    RELIGION. 


pain  ?  Is  it  to  those  calm  skies  where  no  tempest 
rages  and  no  billows  roll  5  or  is  it  to  the  eternal 
agitations  of  that  lake  of  fire  ?  O,  tell  me,  were  it 
not  a  melancholy  state  of  existence  to  be  gliding 
down  the  stream  of  time  under  the  awful  uncer- 
tainty whether  it  will  land  you  in  the  realms  of 
bliss,  or  the  regions  of  wo  ? 


LECTURE  XI. 


THE  PRE-EMINENCE    OF    THE    BIBLE    FOR  THE  INFLU- 
ENCES OF  THE  HOLY  SPIRIT. 


We  have  already  remarked  that  the  Bible  fur- 
nishes all  those  truths  and  motives  which  are  the 
appropriate  materials  of  a  spiritual  mind,  and  as 
such  constitute  the  great  and  only  means  of  per- 
sonal holiness.  Truth  and  love  are  the  weapons 
which  the  Author  of  the  Scriptures  makes  use  of 
in  the  great  moral  contest  that  is  going  on  in  our 
world.  In  this  respect,  the  religion  of  the  Bible 
differs  from  all  other  rehgions.  Other  religions 
have  employed  force,  authority,  stratagem  :  the 
power  of  the  sword,  the  authority  of  princes,  the 
policy  of  priests  and  statesmen  have  all  been 
made  use  of  to  accomplish  their  selfish  designs. 
But  the  Bible  knows  nothing  of  this.  Though  it 
reveals  a  system  of  truth,  and  requires  affections 
every  where  opposed  to  the  selfishness  of  the  hu- 

26* 


306  DIVINE    INFLUENCE. 

man  heart,  and  the  pride  of  human  reason, — a  sys- 
tem at  war  with  human  worldliness  and  sensuahty, 
and  that  neither  flatters  the  pride,  nor  tempts  the 
avarice,  nor  pampers  the  lusts  of  men  5  yet  does  it 
reject  with  indignation  every  attempt  to  influence 
them,  except  by  considerations  which  commend 
themselves  to  the  conscience.  Frank  and  ingenu- 
ous in  the  expression  of  its  claims,  candid  and  open 
in  the  designs  it  aims  at  accomplishing,  it  counts 
on  success  only  as  its  truths  enlighten  the  under- 
standing, awaken  and  regulate  the  conscience,  and 
purify  the  heart.  True  religion  has  its  seat  in  the 
soul.  It  is  a  matter  not  of  external  forms  and  ob- 
servances, but  of  conviction  and  feeling.  No  man 
possesses  it  any  farther  than  he  voluntarily  em- 
braces its  principles  and  feels  their  power.  The 
Bible  therefore  must  necessarily  depend  for  its  tri- 
umphs, not  upon  the  authority  of  human  govern- 
ments, or  the  tricks  of  sordid  policy,  or  any  con- 
cealment of  its  ultimate  objects,  or  any  appeals  to 
human  selfishness,  but  upon  its  own  inherent  ex- 
cellence and  high-born  claims.  Falsehood  and 
sophistry  never  made  a  man  at  heart  the  friend  of 
the  Bible.  Every  true  believer  in  the  word  of  God 
has  the  witness  within  his  own  bosom,  that  he  is 
not  led  away  by  "  cunningly  devised  fables  and  the 
craftiness  of  men,"  but  that  his  confidence  in  it  is 
justified  by  the  begun  and  growing  conformity  of 
his  heart  to  the  heavenly  character  which  this 
word  requires.  The  truths  of  the  Bible  have  been 
brought  home  to  his  own  soul  "in  demonstration 


DIVINE    INFLUENCE.  307 

of  the  Spirit  and  of  power."  There  is  an  agency 
that  gives  them  effect  which  is  exerted  by  God 
himself  We  do  not  hear  this  still,  small  voice,  nor 
is  it  in  any  way  an  agency  that  is  the  object  of  our 
senses.  The  hand  that  accompHshes  the  work  is 
unseen,  and  all  that  we  can  behold  is  the  work  it- 
self accomplished.  It  is  the  supreme,  the  almighty 
agency  of  God,  by  the  unseen  power  of  his  Holy 
Spirit.  It  is  an  influence  that  controuls  the  thoughts, 
dispositions  and  affections,  and  that  makes  the 
Bible  the  "  wisdom  of  God  and  the  power  of  God 
to  salvation." 

Now  this  constitutes  one  great  pre-eminence  of 
the  Holy  Scriptures,  and  is  fitted  to  show  the  obli- 
gations of  the  world  to  this  sacred  volume.  It  has 
higher  claims  to  our  regard  even  than  the  excel- 
lence of  its  truths.  It  reveals  the  existence  and 
interposition  of  an  omnipotent  agent,  known  in  the 
method  of  redemption  by  Jesus  Christ,  whose  pro- 
vince it  is  to  enlighten  and  renovate  the  heart,  and 
give  power  and  energy  to  his  own  revelations. 
This  can  be  affirmed  of  no  false  religion.  Just  be- 
fore the  author  of  the  gospel  left  our  world  for  his 
throne  in  the  heavens,  he  promised  his  disciples 
that  he  would  send  the  heavenly  Paraclete,  who 
should  "  reprove  the  world  of  sin,  of  righteousness 
and  of  judgment  5"  who  "  should  guide  into  all 
truth  5"  who  "  should  take  of  the  things  that  are 
Christ's,  and  show  them  unto  his  people."  The 
rehgion  of  the  Bible  therefore  has  this  high  and 
peculiar  pledge  of  its  efficacy,  that  it  is  associated 


308  DIVINE    INFLUENCE. 

with  an  omnipotent  agency,  which,  by  its  con- 
troul  over  the  intellectual  faculties  and  moral  dis- 
positions, renders  the  truth  which  God  has  re- 
vealed effectual  in  the  moral  transformation  of 
men. 

God  has  revealed  himself  in  the  Scriptures  as 
One  in  Three.  So  distinct  are  the  three,  that 
they  sustain  distinct  offices  in  the  work  of  Re- 
demption, and  possess  the  properties  of  distinct 
persons  j  and  yet  so  intimately  are  they  identified 
in  the  divine  nature,  that  they  are  the  One  only 
living  and  true  Jehovah.  This  is  a  great  mystery, 
and  we  receive  it  on  the  testimony  of  God.  The 
Holy  Spirit  is  not  a  mere  influence,  or  power,  or 
emanation  of  the  Deity,  but  a  living  agent,  to 
whom  the  Scriptures  ascribe  intelligence,  choice, 
and  power.  He  is  represented  as  teaching,  in- 
structing, dictating,  commanding,  commissioning, 
sending  forth,  convincing,  sanctifying,  and  bearing 
witness.  To  him  are  appropriated  the  true  and 
proper  names  of  the  Deity.  He  is  spoken  of  as 
eternal,  omnipresent,  omniscient,  and  as  one  who 
is  worshipped  as  God.  He  is  the  direct  and  im- 
mediate Author  of  the  Scriptures,  while  miracu- 
lous gifts  and  operations  are  every  where  ascribed 
to  his  power.  There  are  also  internal  operations 
of  the  Spirit*,  that  is,  operations  immediately  ex- 
erted upon  the  mind  itself.  It  is  his  province  to 
illuminate  the  ignorant  and  benighted ;  to  awaken 
the  thoughtless*,  to  convince  the  obdurate j  to 
renew  and  sanctify  the  heart  j  to  comfort  and  seal 


DIVINE    INFLUENCE.  309 

the  heirs  of  salvation  for  their  final  inheritance, 
and  fit  them  for  the  glory  to  be  hereafter  revealed. 
The  truths  of  the  Scriptures,  though  divine  in 
their  origin,  are  only  the  instrumental  cause  of 
all  holy  impressions.  Their  saving  efiicacy,  in  all 
cases,  depends  on  the  power  and  agency  of  the 
Holy  Spirit.  Nor  are  the  nature  and  mode  of 
this  influence  altogether  undefined.  It  is  in  every 
instance,  connected  with  the  truth  5  imparting  to 
the  mind  clear  perceptions  of  what  God  has  re- 
vealed in  his  word,  and  rendering  these  percep- 
tions impressive  and  effectual  to  the  formation  of 
a  spiritual  character.  Truth  is  the  motive  of  the 
change,  and  the  agency  of  the  spirit  its  cause. 

The  terms  and  illustrations  by  which  the  Scrip- 
tures represent  the  work  of  the  Spirit  are  strong- 
ly significant.  Sometimes  it  is  represented  by 
the  metaphorical  language  of  the  "new  birth." 
When,  in  the  moral  history  of  man,  a  rebel  be- 
comes a  child,  it  is  because  he  is  "  begotten,  not  of 
blood,  nor  of  the  will  of  the  flesh,  nor  of  the  wiU 
of  man,  but  of  God."  Sometimes  it  is  exhibited 
as  a  "  new  creation."  When  from  the  confusion, 
darkness,  and  disorder  of  the  natural  mind,  men 
are  formed  anew,  and  adorned  with  all  the  glories 
of  a  spiritual  transformation  5  they  are  "  his  work- 
manship, created  anew  in  Christ  Jesus  after  the 
image  of  him  that  created  them."  Sometimes  it 
is  set  forth  as  a  "  resurection  from  the  dead."  If 
the  dead  in  sin  burst  the  bars  of  their  cold  sepul- 
chre and  come  forth ;  it  is  because  "  he  quickens 


310  DIVINE    INFLUENCE. 

them,"  and  his  Spirit  is  the  sole  author  of  this  new 
and  holy  life.  If  the  apostate  child  of  Adam 
becomes  the  child  of  God  5  if  his  moral  nature 
lives  by  new  culture,  and  his  faculties  acquire  a 
new  developement  5  if  he  sustains  new  relations, 
possesses  new  tastes,  preferences,  and  pleasures  j 
if  he  is  devoted  to  new  pursuits  5  if  he  has  a  new 
heart  and  a  new  spirit ',  it  is  from  "  the  washing 
of  regeneration  and  the  renewing  of  the  Holy 
Ghost."  "  He  that  hath  wrought  him  for  this 
self-same  thing  is  God." 

I  need  not  tell  you  that  a  different  theology 
than  this  has,  to  no  inconsiderable  extent,  per- 
vaded the  Church  of  God  in  almost  every  age. 
Pelagius,  as  early  as  the  fifth  century  of  the  Chris- 
tian era,  taught,  that  "  for  us  to  be  men,  is  of  God  5 
but  that  for  us  to  be  righteous,  is  of  ourselves." 
Of  the  same  class  are  those  teachers  in  modern 
times,  who  affirm,  that  while  God  cannot  regene- 
rate men,  men  regenerate  themselves !  We  have 
no  fellowship  with  views  so  directly  opposed  to 
the  instructions  of  the  Bible,  and  so  utterly  at  va- 
riance with  the  experience  of  good  men.  I  have 
often  wondered  at  the  rashness  of  those  who  have 
ventured  thus  to  tamper  with  principles  of  such 
extreme  delicacy  and  importance.  There  is  no- 
thing we  should  approach  with  greater  fear  and 
trembhng  than  the  work  of  that  Almighty  Spirit, 
to  whom  so  much  is  entrusted,  and  whose  office 
and  honours  are  protected  by  such  fearful  sanc- 
tions.    It  is  easy  to  give  a  wrong  touch  to  the  Ark 


DIVINE    INFLUENCE.  311 

of  God.  The  great  principle  of  the  Spirit's  influ- 
ence is  to  the  Christian  system  what  the  main 
spring  and  shaft  are  to  a  dehcate  and  exact  ma- 
chinery. It  is  an  impulse  of  prodigious  power, 
and  may  not  be  jostled  out  of  its  place  by  curious 
and  unhallowed  hands.  I  cannot  but  regard  the 
immediate,  effectual  interposition  of  the  Holy 
Spirit,  superadded  to  all  the  means  of  grace  and 
salvation,  as  one  of  those  fundamental  truths  that 
are  settled  in  heaven^  and  ought  never  to  be  un- 
settled on  earth.  It  was  just  observed  that  the 
error  to  which  we  refer  is  at  variance  with  all 
sound  experience.  What  is  more  common  than 
for  men  under  strong  convictions  to  be  thrown  into 
deep  distress  and  agony  from  a  view  of  the  difficul- 
ties in  the  way  of  their  coiiversion  ?  What  pious 
man  has  not  been  deely  sensible  of  his  insufficien- 
cy to  change  his  own  heart,  and  a  thousand  times 
gratefully  acknowledged  that  the  change  is  to  be 
attributed  to  a  cause  without  himself?  Who  has 
not  evidence  within  his  own  bosom,  which  is  in- 
stead of  a  thousand  exterior  arguments,  that  there 
are  obstacles  to  be  surmounted  in  this  great  work, 
to  which  nothing  is  adequate  but  divine  power  ? 
Nay,  is  not  this  insufficiency  one  of  the  first  les- 
sons in  the  school  of  Christ  ? 

I  have  seen  men  who  went  up  to  the  house  of 
God  with  the  unbending  spirit  of  rebellion  against 
their  Maker,  who  went  away  with  the  meekness 
and  docility  of  little  children.  I  have  seen  men  of 
all  ranks  and  ages,  of  all  opinions  and  prejudices 


312  DIVIJVE    INPLUENCE. 

found  in  Christian  lands,  of  every  degree  and  va- 
riety of  information  from  the  shrewd  jurist  to  the 
humble  artizan,  of  all  dispositions  and  characters, 
become  alike  and  together  the  subjects  of  a  moral 
transformation,  the  reality  of  which  has  been  de- 
monstrated by  a  subsequent  life  of  practical  godli- 
ness, and  under  the  influence  of  light  and  motives 
which  they  had  often  previously  resisted  and 
which  others  around  them  still  resist.  How  are 
these  moral  phenomena  to  be  accounted  for  ?  If 
there  be  a  divine  influence  in  regeneration,  there 
is  nothing  ambiguous,  nothing  doubtful,  nothing 
wonderful  in  such  results,  except  as  they  are  ex- 
pressive of  wonderful  power  and  mercy.  When  I 
see  the  forests  bend  and  the  sturdy  oaks  tremble ; 
when  I  hear  the  tempest  howl  and  behold  the 
ocean  foam  with  fury  5  though  I  see  neither  the 
cloud  nor  the  air,  I  know  there  is  "  a  strong  and 
mighty  wind."  So  when  I  see  a  whole  assembly 
moved  as  the  trees  of  the  wood  5  when  I  behold 
the  fountains  of  human  depravity  broken  up,  its 
deep  abyss  boil,  its  troubled  waters  cast  up  mire 
and  dirt,  and  after  the  storm  listen  "  to  the  still, 
small  voice  j  I  know  that  the  arm  of  the  King 
eternal,  invisible  and  immortal  is  made  bare. 
"The  wind  bloweth  where  it  hsteth,  and  thou 
hearest  the  sound  thereof,  but  canst  not  tell 
whence  it  cometh  and  whither  it  goethj  so  is 
every  one  that  is  born  of  the  Spirit." 

The  change  of  which  the  spirit   of  God  is  the 
author  is  a  moral,  a  spiritual  change.     It  does  not 


DIVINE    INFLUENCE.  313 

effect  a  transformation  in  the  essential  properties 
of  the  soul  5  but  rather  so  enlightens  and  influences 
its  existing  properties,  that,  in  a  moral  view,  it  be- 
comes a  new  creature,  and  possesses  altogether 
another  spiritual  character.  It  does  not  impart 
any  new  intellectual  faculty,  but  rather  enriches 
faculties  that  have  become  impoverished  by  sin  5 
directs  faculties  that  have  been  ill-directed ;  im- 
parts sensitiveness  and  integrity  to  the  conscience, 
and  holiness  to  the  heart.  Nor  is  the  influence 
that  causes  it,  an  influence  that  is  necessary  in 
order  to  originate,  or  sustain  the  obligations  to  ho- 
liness. There  is  enough  of  intellect  and  conscience 
in  the  most  reprobate  sinner  to  make  it  every  way 
suitable  and  proper  that  he  should  be  required  to 
be  holy,  even  though  the  influences  of  the  Holy 
Spirit  were  forever  withheld.  The  obligations  to 
holiness  are  destroyed  by  nothing  short  of  idiocy. 
"  He  that  knoweth  to  do  good  and  doeth  it  not,  to 
him  it  is  sin." 

The  reasons  for  the  necessity  of  this  divine  in- 
fluence may  be  stated  in  very  few  words.  All  men 
by  the  fall  lost  communion  with  God.  Not  only 
have  they  no  original  righteousness,  but  deeply 
seated  original  sin.  Mental  blindness,  unfaithful- 
ness of  conscience,  and  a  total  depravation  of  all 
the  moral  affections  constitute  the  character  of 
every  natural  man.  That  character  is  written  in 
three  memorable  words, — "  enmity  against  God." 
Now  it  were  marvellous  if  such  a  man  were  the 
cause  of  his  own  regeneration.     Love  produced  by 

27 


314  DIVINE    INFLUENCE. 

enmity — holiness  caused  by  sin — light  created  by 
darkness !  The  reason  then  why  a  divine  influ- 
ence is  necessary  is,  that  men  never  will,  and  never 
can  become  holy  without  it.  "  Ye  will  not  come 
unto  me  that  ye  might  have  life  5 — no  man  can 
come  to  me,  except  the  Father  who  hath  sent  me 
draw  him."  Both  these  representations  are  alike 
entitled  to  our  confidence.  Until  God  draws  them, 
no  matter  what  the  variety  and  novelty  of  their 
mental  developements,  no  matter  what  the  rigour 
of  their  external  reformation,  no  matter  what  the 
strength  of  their  most  solemn  purposes  of  repent- 
ance, they  depart  farther  from  him. 

It  has  been  already  intimated  that  the  Divine 
Spirit  acts  on  the  mind  itself.  A  misconception 
of  the  truth  in  this  particular  has  induced  error. 
The  disciples  of  the  Arminian  school  do  not,  in 
expressed  terms,  deny  the  doctrine  of  divine  influ- 
ence. And  yet  they  virtually  deny  it.  Dr.  Whitby 
himself  concedes  that  "  God  vouchsafes  some  in- 
ward operations,  or  assistance  to  incline  men  to 
what  is  good,  and  work  conversion  in  them  j"  while 
at  the  same  time  he  asserts,  that  this  influence  is 
confined  "  to  a  more  clear  representation  of  the 
truths  that  we  may  have  a  fuller  evidence  and 
stronger  conviction  of  it."  Such  is  the  modern 
doctrine  of  the  same  school.  Men  are  not  want- 
ing at  the  present  day  who  affirm  that  all  the  influ- 
ence which  the  spirit  of  God  exerts  is  a  moral,  or 
suasory  influence;  and  that  it  is  impossible  the 
mind  should  be  subjected  to  any  other.     But  this 


DIVINE    INFLUENCE. 


315 


whole  system  is  untrue.  Who  has  told  us  that  he 
who  created  the  human  mind  cannot  controul  and 
govern  it  5  and  that  when  Hght  and  motives  can  no 
longer  influence  its  course,  by  the  same  voice  by 
which  "  he  spake  and  it  was  done,  and  commanded 
and  it  stood  fast,"  so  express  his  omnipotent  will 
that  the  sinner  shall  turn  and  live  ?  What  is  there 
in  the  laws  of  mind  to  prevent  omnipotence  from 
arresting  its  attention,  impressing  its  conscience, 
and  changing  its  affections  ?  Away  with  all  this 
philosophy^  falsely  so  called  I  The  single  ques- 
tion is,  does  the  spirit  of  God,  in  changing  the  heart 
through  the  intervention  of  truth,  act  upon  the 
truth^  or  upon  the  mind  ?  How  does  it  act  upon 
the  truth  ?  Does  it  change  it  ?  does  it  present  it 
in  such  a  way  that  the  hostile  mind  falls  in  with 
it  ?  The  door  is  closed.  The  mind  itself  is  inac- 
cessible. The  heart  must  be  first  opened,  as  was 
the  heart  of  Lydia  when  she  received  the  things 
that  were  spoken  by  Paul.  The  Saviour  made  use 
of  clay  to  open  the  eyes  of  him  that  was  born 
Wind.  But  it  was  not  the  clay  that  opened  them, 
but  the  Saviour  himself  And  though  the  analogy 
does  not  hold  in  all  respects,  it  illustrates  the 
thought  we  wish  to  convey.  The  change  in  re- 
generation is  effected  by  the  Holy  Spirit  through 
the  truth,  while  the  influence  of  the  Spirit  is  ex- 
erted, not  on  the  truth,  but  on  the  understanding 
and  heart.  Men  may  not  always  know  how  this 
moral  transformation  was  effected,  except  that  it 
was  by  an  influence  above  all  the  power  of  second 


316 


DIVINE    INFLUENCE. 


causes.  With  the  man  who  was  born  bHnd,  they 
can  say,  "  One  thing  I  know,  that  whereas  I  was 
once  bhnd,  I  now  see."  And  if  any  doubt  the  im- 
mediate power  of  God  in  their  conversion,  with 
him  they  might  well  reply,  "  Why  herein  is  a  mar- 
vellous thing,  that  ye  know  not  whence  he  is,  and 
yet  he  hath  opened  mine  eyes  !" 

What  is  the  change  effected  in  regeneration  ? 
Is  it  a  mere  resolution  to  forsake  the  ways  of  sin 
and  death  ?  Is  it  the  mere  preference  of  religious 
duties  and  a  religious  life  to  the  world  ?  What 
then  prevents  the  anxious  and  convinced  sinner 
from  being  converted,  when  he  forms  resolution 
upon  resolution  to  become  the  child  of  God,  and 
when,  amid  the  agonies  of  his  conviction,  the  world 
to  him  is  a  mere  cypher  ?  What  prevents  the 
dying  sinner  from  being  converted,  when  he  would 
give  ten  thousand  worlds  for  one  smile  of  mercy  ? 
What  prevents  the  benighted  sinner  from  being 
converted,  when,  in  contempt  of  every  worldly  in- 
terest, he  prostrates  himself  beneath  the  idol-car  ? 
What  prevents  the  self-righteous  sinner  from  being 
converted,  when  he  "  gives  all  his  goods  to  feed  the 
poor,  and  his  body  to  be  burned,"  in  order  to  ob- 
tain the  favour  of  God  ?  Regeneration  lies  deeper 
than  this,  else  might  it  indeed  be  effected  by  moral 
suasion.  It  consists  in  a  "  new  heart  and  a  new 
spirit."  It  is  a  state  of  mind  that  hates  sin  and 
loves  holiness  *,  that  believes  the  record  that  God 
has  given  of  his  Son,  and  trusts  in  him  alone  for 
salvation  5  that  not  only  resolves  to  love  God,  but 


DIVINE    INFLUENCE.  317 

loves  him, — more  than  the  world,  more  than  self, 
more  than  every  thing.  In  effecting  such  a 
change,  there  are  difficulties  which  no  influence 
merely  suasory,  be  it  human,  angelic,  or  divine, 
can  remove.  There  is  not  a  consideration  in  the 
universe  sufficiently  alluring  to  win,  or  weighty 
enough  to  break,  a  supremely  selfish  heart.  The 
Holy  Spirit  imparts  no  omnipotence  to  motives  5 
he  exerts  it  himself.  They  do  not  open  the  eyes 
of  the  blind,  but  he  opens  them.  They  do  not 
take  away  the  heart  of  stone  and  give  the  heart 
of  flesh  ;  he  does  it,  himself  "  working  in  men,  to 
will  and  to  do  of  his  own  good  pleasure. 

But  you  win  naturally  ask.  Is  this  influence  ef- 
fectual, wherever  it  is  exerted  ?  It  is  effectual.  It 
overcomes  resistance.  The  struggle  of  the  de- 
praved mind,  and  all  its  angry  conflict  with  truth 
and  motives  is  over,  when  the  mighty  Spirit  speaks. 
No  sooner  does  he  touch  the  heart,  than  the  work 
is  accomphshed.  The  effect  is  produced  just  as 
certainly  as  the  influence  is  exerted.  The  cause 
is  controlling  and  decisive.  It  acts  upon  the  will 
and  destroys  resistance.  It  is  "  effectual  calling." 
And  it  is  a  signal  act  of  mighty  power — a  power 
that  speaks  into  being,  what  had  no  being  before 
— a  power  that  lays  its  commands  on  things  that 
do  not  exist,  and  eflfectually  enforces  obedience 
No  laws  of  matter  or  of  mind  can  accomplish  this 
mighty  work.  No  means,  no  second  causes  can 
accomplish  it.  Parents  cannot  accomplish  it  by 
all  their  solicitude  and  faithfulness.   Christians  can- 

27* 


318  DIVINE    INFLUENCE. 

not  accomplish  it  by  all  their  expostulations  and 
counsel.  Ministers  cannot  accomplish  it  by  all 
their  preaching.  Bibles  and  Sabbaths  cannot  ac- 
complish it  by  all  their  combined  and  concentrated 
energy.  The  law  cannot  accomplish  it  by  its  ter- 
rors, nor  the  gospel  by  its  tenderness.  The  se- 
lectest  mercies  cannot  accomplish  it,  nor  the  hea- 
viest judgments.  Wars,  earthquakes  and  pestilence 
cannot  accomplish  it.  The  rending  rocks,  the 
deep  thunder,  the  vivid  lightning,  cannot  accom- 
plish it.  Angels  cannot  accomplish  it  by  all  their 
watchfulness  and  guardianship.  The  Spirit  of 
God  alone  accomplishes  it,  and  by  the  excellency 
of  his  power. 

It  is  not  unnatural  also  to  inquire,  whether  this 
influence  is  extended  to  all  ?  If  it  were,  one  thing 
is  certainly  true,  that  all  would  become  holy,  and 
finally  saved.  It  is  therefore  a  sovereign  influence. 
It  is  imparted  and  withheld,  not  without  reason ; 
not  without  the  best  of  reasons  5  but  for  reasons 
unknown  to  us.  In  this,  as  in  other  things,  the 
Sovereign  Arbiter  does  not  treat  all  ahke.  It  is 
not  extended  to  all  to  whom  God  is  able  to  extend 
it,  but  to  all  to  whom  he  is  pleased  to  extend  it. 
There  is  a  theorv  which  aflirms  that  God  shows 
mercy  to  as  many  as  he  is  able  to  show  mercy  5 
while  the  theory  of  the  Bible  unequivocafly  and  in 
strong  contrast  affirms,  that  he  extends  this  agency 
to  as  many  as  he  sees  best,  and  "hath  mercy  on 
whom  he  will  have  mercy."  It  required  no  more 
effort  in  Omnipotence  to  create  the  world,  than  to 


DIVINE    INFLUENCE.  319 

create  an  atom;  and  it  requires  no  more  effort 
from  him  to  regenerate  one  man,  than  another. 
If  you  ask  why  he  ever  withholds  this  gracious  in- 
fluence, I  must  cover  my  face  and  be  silent.  Or 
if  I  give  utterance  to  a  single  thought  while  dwell- 
ing on  this  inscrutable  mystery,  can  only  say, 
"  Even  so.  Father !  for  so  it  seemed  good  in  thy 
sight."  This  is  one  of  the  "  secret  things  which 
belong  to  God." 

Will  any  think  it  strange  that  with  this  last 
characteristic  of  the  Spirit's  influence,  I  still  say, 
that  it  is  one  of  the  distinguishing  glories  of  the 
Bible  ?  It  has  no  greater  glory ;  nor  has  the  Di- 
vine mind  any  greater  mercy  than  is  here  unfolded. 
And  those  who  deny  him  this,  take  away  the  only 
ground  of  hope.  We  may  say  of  this  great  truth, 
what  the  great  Reformer  so  justly  said  of  another. 
It  is  the  "  Articidiis^  aid  stantis^  aut  cadentis  ec- 
clesi{B.^^  With  it  the  Church  and  the  Bible  stand, 
or  fall.  The  denial  of  it  is  a  virtual  subversion  of 
the  whole  gospel.  Though  too  searching  a  prin- 
ciple, and  too  humbling  to  the  pride  of  man  not  to 
be  frittered  away,  unless  there  be  great  self-renun- 
ciation and  simplicity  of  spirit,  and  great  union  of 
heart,  of  effort,  and  of  prayer  5  yet  can  it  never 
be  too  highly  appreciated.  Every  holy  affection 
and  purpose  that  finds  a  dwelling  among  men,  and 
that  is  cherished  in  the  cold  bosoms  of  this  low 
world,  is  from  this  eternal  source.  The  holy  and 
happy  emotions  that  Hght  up  so  many  smiles  with- 
in the  otherwise  cheerless  and  curtained  chambers 


320  DIVINE    INFLUENCE. 

of  the  soul;  the  benignant  designs  that  diffuse 
such  a  charm  over  this  otherwise  desponding 
world,  and  throw  their  perspective  into  the  far 
vale  of  futurity,  would  all  be  turned  again  into 
gloom  and  darkness,  but  for  this  power  of  the 
Highest  that  overshadows  them.  "  Upon  the  land 
of  my  people  shall  come  up  thorns  and  briers  *,  yea, 
upon  all  the  houses  of  joy  in  the  joyous  city.  The 
pastures  shall  be  forsaken;  the  multitude  of  the 
city  shall  be  left  a  joy  of  wild  asses,  a  pasture  of 
flocks,  until  the  Spirit  be  poured  from  on  high." 
The  shades  of  night  will  never  be  chased  away ; 
the  rigours  and  silence  of  winter  will  lock  up  the 
world  in  its  icy  chains,  until  this  Sun  of  Righte- 
ousness arise.  It  is  the  pre-eminence  of  the  Bible 
that  it  discloses  this  dispensation  of  the  Spirit. 

May  we  not  easily  see  in  view  of  this  great 
peculiarity  of  the  Scriptures,  why  it  is  that  the 
gospel  of  the  Son  of  God  has  made  such  progress 
in  our  world  ?  The  strength  of  false  religions  lies 
in  the  power  of  custom  and  habit,  in  the  most  un- 
worthy appeals  to  the  passions  and  interests  of 
men,  in  the  constraints  of  human  authority  and  in 
the  sword.  They  have  all  failed  for  want  of  some 
inherent  power,  some  attendant  influence  upon 
the  mind  to  render  them  eflfectual  5 — an  influence 
which  they  could  not  secure  because  they  were 
false.  Not  one  of  them  has  been  able  to  stand 
forth  alone,  and  perpetuate  itself  unaided  by  arti- 
fice, or  arms,  or  the  power  of  the  civil  govern- 
ment ;  and  none  of  them  could  look  to  any  higher 


DIVINE    INFLUENCE.  321 

source  for  aid.  Mahomet  was  occupied  three 
years  in  making  fourteen  converts.  After  seven 
years  effort,  when  he  fled  from  Mecca  to  Medina, 
lie  numbered  but  one  hundred  and  one  followers. 
Neither  the  rehgion  of  Mahomet,  nor  any  of  the 
forms  of  paganism  carried  with  them  their  own 
inherent  evidence  of  their  truth,  and  of  their  di- 
vine origin  5  nor  has  that  great  and  Almighty 
Being  who  governs  the  moral  as  well  as  the  natu- 
ral world,  given  them  any  testimony  of  his  appro- 
bation. The  Bible  on  the  other  hand,  carries 
with  it  this  evidence  of  its  divine  origin,  that  it  is 
attended  with  the  mighty  power  of  God.  When 
the  despised  Son  of  Mary  hung  upon  the  cross, 
who  would  have  thought  that  the  religion  of 
which  he  was  the  Author  was  destined  to  cover 
the  earth  as  the  waters  cover  the  sea?  Who 
would  have  thought,  that  contrary  to  all  human 
probabilities,  in  opposition  to  all  human  power, 
and  striking  as  it  did  a  deadly  blow  to  all  the 
idolatry  of  self,  it  would  have  so  triumphed  over 
error,  superstition  and  wickedness,  changed  the 
heart  of  man,  the  form  of  human  society,  and  the 
religion  of  the  world  ?  Look  a  moment  at  this 
wonderful  fact.  Here  is  a  system,  the  leading 
principles  of  which  are  not  discoverable  by  the 
lights  of  nature  and  reason,  a  system  that  is  to  be 
propagated  not  by  force,  but  by  conviction,  be- 
coming the  living  religion  of  all  the  nations  of  the 
earth.  At  the  expiration  o^  forty  days  after  the 
death  of  its  founder,  it  numbered  one  hundred  and 


322  DIVINE    INFLUENCE. 

twenty  followers;  immediately  after,  three  thou- 
sand J  and  soon  after,  five  thousand  more.  In  the 
progress  of  a  single  century,  it  extended  itself, 
over  Syria  and  Lybia,  Egypt  and  Arabia,  Persia 
and  Mesopotamia,  pervaded  Asia  Minor,  Arminia 
and  Parthia,  and  even  large  portions  of  Europe. 
Unfolding  as  it  did  God  in  human  nature,  declar- 
ing as  it  did  the  substitution  of  the  innocent  for 
the  guilty,  insisting  as  it  did  upon  a  radical  trans- 
formation of  the  human  heart, — principles  which 
are  to  the  Jew  a  stumbling  block,  and  to  the 
Greek  foolishness — it  entered  upon  the  conquest 
of  the  world.  The  learning  of  Athens,  the  wealth 
of  Corinth,  the  pride  of  Rome  bowed  before  it. 
It  waved  its  standard  amid  the  refinements  of 
civilization  and  triumphed  over  the  degradations 
of  barbarism.  No  climate  arrests  its  progress;  no 
form  of  human  society  can  exclude  it.  Every- 
where its  effects  are  the  same ;  the  same  its  illumi- 
nations of  the  understanding,  its  convictions  of 
the  conscience,  its  renovation  of  the  heart;  its 
holiness,  its  hopes,  its  joys,  its  prospects  the  same. 
It  is  natural  to  ask,  whence  this  success  ?  Never 
was  a  change  wrought  in  the  character  of  man  by 
means  so  simple,  so  unostentatious,  so  utterly  at 
war  with  all  the  pride  and  egotism  of  the  human 
heart.  We  see  no  power  proportioned  to  the 
effect.  What  was  it?  It  cannot  be  difficult  to 
see  what  it  was.  God  was  with  it.  The  secret 
of  its  success  is  found  in  the  attendant  power  of 
its  Author.     No   natural  causes  can  account  for 


DIVINE    INFLUENCE. 


323 


such  a  phenomenon  as  the  wide  extension  and  the 
hallowed  effects  of  the  Bible.     It  is  a  phenomenon 
altogether  unique  in  its  kind,  and  produced  only 
by  the  instrumentality  of  truth  under  the  broad 
seal  of  heaven.     Nor  have   its   triumphs  ceased. 
These  commendations  and  honours  are  not  flowers 
thrown  upon  its  tomb.     The  moral  efficacy  of  the 
Scriptures  is  demonstration  that  they  are  "living 
oracles,"  and  that  the  word  of  God  is  "  quick  and 
powerful"  beyond  all  other  power.     Men  are  con- 
scious of  the   spiritual  excellence  it  reveals  and 
imparts.      When   we   can   look  round  upon  this 
magnificent    and   beautiful    creation,   and    doubt 
whether  it  is  the  work  of  the  divine  hand,  then  too 
we  may  look  at  the  effects  of  the  Bible,  and  doubt 
whether   they   discover   the   work  of  the    divine 
mind.      And   this   they   will   discover    more   and 
more.     The  evidence  is  accumulative,  and  accu- 
mulating every  hour.     It  is  unlimited,  but  by  the 
boundaries  of  the   earth',   it  is   prospective,    and 
shall  never  terminate,  but  with  the  end  of  time. 
Not  only  has  the  gospel  made  rapid  progress  in 
our  world,  but  it  shall  make  still  more  wonderful 
progress.     The  Spirit  of  God  has   but  begun  to 
descend.     The  chief  part  of  his  work  and  reward 
is  yet  in  expectation.     These  Scriptures  go  forth, 
not  only  under  the  sanction,  but  under  the  pro- 
mised, assured,  effectual,  and  still  more  abundant 
blessing  of  their  Author  in  time  to  come.     He  has 
said,  "  As  the  rain  cometh    down  and   the  snow 
from  heaven,  and  returneth  not  thither,  but  water- 


324  DIVINE    INFLUENCE. 

eth  the  earth,  and  maketh  it  bring  forth  and  bud, 
that  it  may  give  seed  to  the  sower  and  bread  to  the 
eater ;  so  shall  my  word  be  that  goeth  forth  out 
of  my  mouth.  It  shall  not  return  unto  me  void, 
but  it  shall  accomplish  that  which  I  please,  and 
prosper  in  the  thing  whereunto  I  sent  it."  With 
the  Bible  in  their  hands  and  the  Spirit  of  God 
among  their  people,  the  ministers  of  salvation 
"shall  go  out  with  joy,  and  be  led  forth  with 
peace.  The  mountains  and  the  hills  shall  break 
forth  before  them  into  singing,  and  all  the  trees  of 
the  field  shall  clap  their  hands.  Instead  of  the 
thorn  shall  come  up  the  fir-tree,  and  instead  of  the 
briar  shall  come  up  the  myrtle-tree  5  and  it  shall 
be  to  the  Lord  for  a  name,  for  an  everlasting  sign 
that  shall  not  be  cut  off"."  With  this  influence, 
the  wilderness  shall  be  turned  into  a  paradise,  and 
Lebanon  into  Carmel.  The  Bible  will  march 
onward  in  defiance  of  all  the  indifference  of  a 
world  that  lieth  in  wickedness,  of  all  the  arts  of 
philosophy,  and  all  the  virulence  of  relentless  per- 
secution. While  other  religions,  devised  by  hu- 
man wisdom,  and  propagated  by  the  secular  arm, 
shall  be  seen  to  possess  no  self-perpetuating 
power,  and  pass  away,  and  leave  no  memorial 
behind  them  5  the  religion  of  the  Bible  shall  live, 
and  be  diffused,  and  find  its  triumphs  in  the  moral 
purity  and  happiness  of  "  a  great  multitude  which 
no  man  can  number."  Myriads,  by  this  gracious 
influence,  will  yet  be  delivered  from  the  power  of 
darkness  and  translated  into  the  kingdom  of  God's 


DIVINE    INFLUENCE.  325 

dear  Son  5  and  myriads  more  will  yet  rise  up  "  an 
exceeding  great  army,"  from  the  valley  where 
there  were  "  bones  very  many  and  very  dry,"  and 
where  breath  came  upon  them  from  the  four 
winds.  Go  and  stand  in  the  midst  of  some  of 
those  numberless  scenes  of  wonder  and  of  mercy, 
of  sovereignty  and  of  omnipotence,  where  the 
Spirit  of  God  has  moved  the  assemblies  of  his  peo- 
ple j  where  hundreds  have  trembled  as  on  the 
verge  of  wo ;  and  where,  after  the  storm  was  past, 
the  voice  of  mercy  has  whispered  divine  peace, 
and  awoke  their  everlasting  songj  and  you  may 
appreciate,  in  some  small  degree,  the  love  and 
power  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  If  you  look  forward  to 
what  this  celestial  Comforter  will  yet  accomplish, 
when  the  great  mass  of  human  minds  shall  be  sub- 
jected to  his  gracious  influence  j  when  so  many 
hearts  shall  be  purified,  and  so  many  lives  renewed  5 
when  every  land  shall  be  redeemed  from  its  cor- 
ruption and  bondage,  and  the  world  assume  a  cha- 
racter which  shall  be  the  counterpart  to  the  great 
truths  which  this  divine  agent  impresses  on  the 
soul  *,  with  overwhelming  gratitude  may  you  recog- 
nize the  pre-eminence  of  his  great  work.  We  an- 
ticipate with  confidence  the  ultimate  triumphs  of 
the  Bible  because  there  is  no  inconstancy  of  purpose, 
no  weakness,  no  despondency  in  the  mind  of  the 
Spirit.  The  work  of  the  adorable  Saviour  was 
finished,  when  he  bowed  his  head  and  sunk  upon 
the  cross ;  while  the  ever-blesssed  Spirit  has  but 
just  entered  on  his  wonder-working  career.  It  is 
28 


326  DIVINE    INFLUENCE. 

reserved  for  him  to  gather  his  laurels  from  the 
sheaves  of  the  coming  harvest,  and  find  his  reward 
in  the  purity  and  blessedness  of  a  regenerated 
world. 

Permit  me  also  to  remind  you,  my  young  friends, 
that  the  same  divine  influence  which  is  the  hope 
of  the  world  is  also  your  hope — your  only  hope — 
your  great  and  only  incentive  and  encouragement 
in  the  divine  life.  Thus  Paul  considered  it,  when 
he  said,  "  When  I  am  weak,  then  am  I  strong." 
Thus  a  pious  female  of  the  last  century  considered 
it,  when  uttering  the  emotions  of  all  the  effectually 
called,  she  exclaimed,  "  Though  I  am  perfect  weak- 
ness, I  have  omnipotence  to  lean  upon."  Thus 
the  ever-blessed  Spirit  himself  considered  it,  when 
he  left  the  injunction,  "  Work  out  your  salvation 
with  fear  and  trembling,  for  it  is  God  that  worketh 
in  you  to  will  and  to  do  of  his  good  pleasure."  I 
know  not  why  men  should  stumble  at  the  thresh- 
old of  their  inquiries,  over  their  dependance  on  the 
Spirit  of  God  5  as  though  this  discouraged,  rather 
than  encouraged  them;  as  though  it  shut  the 
doors  of  heaven,  rather  than  kept  them  open  5  as 
though  it  retarded  and  bewildered  them  in  their 
progress,  rather  than  led  them  onward  5  as  though, 
because  "  without  Christ  they  can  do  nothing," 
they  cannot  do  all  things  "  through  Christ  strength- 
ening them."  I  know  not  why  it  is  not  your  privi- 
lege and  mine  to  make  the  same  practical  use  of 
our  dependance  on  the  Spirit  of  grace  that  was 
made  by  patriarchs,  prophets,  apostles,  and  mar- 


DIVINE    INFLUENCE.  327 

tyrs.  And  sure  I  am,  the  use  they  made  of  it  was, 
not  to  relax  the  bonds  of  obligation,  encourage  in- 
difference, and  sanction  sloth  and  procrastination  5 
but  to  impart  strength  in  weakness,  hope  in  de- 
spondency, courage  in  depresssion,  darkness,  and 
difficulty,  and  induce  them  to  "  take  hold  of  God's 
strength  and  be  at  peace."  Man  in  his  best  es- 
tate is  weak  and  fallible.  Of  the  choicest  human 
endowments,  we  may  say,  "  This  treasure  we  have 
in  earthern  vessels."  Your  strength  is  made  per- 
fect by  conscious  weakness.  If  the  Spirit  of  God 
help  not  your  infirmities,  you  are  truly  weak.  But 
confident  of  his  support,  '•'  with  a  thousand  perils 
in  your  eye,"  you  may  say,  "  None  of  these  things 
move  me  5  neither  count  I  my  life  dear  to  myself, 
so  that  I  might  finish  my  course  with  joy."  Not  a 
little  of  the  darkness  and  despondency  which  per- 
plex men  in  the  present  world,  is  to  be  attributed 
to  the  low  views  they  entertain  of  the  divine  pow- 
er and  goodness.  Just  views  of  these  attributes 
would  always  dispel  the  cloud.  "  The  things  which 
are  impossible  with  men  are  possible  with  God." 
Whatever  reasons  men  have  to  distrust  them- 
selves, they  have  none  to  distrust  him. 

I  will  not  close  this  lecture  without  adding 
another  thought.  How  obvious,  in  view  of  the 
principles  which  have  been  suggested,  is  the  privi- 
lege and  duty  of  prayer.  "  If  ye,  being  evil,  know 
how  to  give  good  gifts  unto  your  children,  how 
much  more  shall  your  Father  which  is  in  heaven, 
give  his  Holy  Spirit  to  them  that  ask   him."     I 


328  DIVINE    INFLUENCE. 

know  of  no  other  way  of  procuring  these  diyine 
influences  than  to  sohcit  them.  "Ask,  and  ye 
shall  receive  5  seek,  and  ye  shall  find  5  knock,  and 
it  shall  be  opened  unto  you."  A  man  who  feels 
that  his  heart  is  wholly  inclined  to  evil,  "  deceitful 
above  all  things,  and  desperately  wicked,"  yea,  "  en- 
mity against  God,"  cannot  live  without  prayer,  and 
indulge  any  hope  that  he  will  ever  become  a  con- 
verted man.  He  will  find  his  conscience  more 
and  more  obdurate,  his  heart  more  and  more  forti- 
fied against  the  claims  of  the  Bible,  and  hardened 
in  sin ;  while  the  spirit  and  maxims  of  the  world, 
and  the  subtle  and  ceaseless  power  of  him  who 
"  goeth  about  like  a  roaring  lion,  seeking  whom  he 
may  devour,"  rivet  the  chains  of  sin  and  death. 
The  Christian  who  would  resist  the  strength  of  his 
natural  corruptions,  and  surmount  the  hindrances 
which  beset  his  path  to  heaven,  and  who  would 
not  sink  in  utter  despondency  before  the  responsi- 
bility and  perils  of  his  high  calling,  must  daily  aspire 
after  that  divine  aid  which  makes  his  progress 
certain  and  his  triumph  sure.  The  minister  of  the 
gospel  who  would  be  raised  above  discouragement 
in  view  of  his  own  insufficiency  and  the  greatness 
of  his  work,  may,  if  he  have  the  faith  and  prayer  to 
ally  his  own  weakness  with  the  energy  of  the  Holy 
Spirit,  persevere  in  his  labours,  not  only  with  undis- 
couraged  cheerfulness  and  resolution,  but  comfort- 
ed hopes.  The  church  that  "  sows  in  tears  may 
reap  in  joy."  The  spirit  of  prayer  will  give  her 
confidence  and  hope.     Whom  she  cannot  awaken. 


DIVINE    INFLUENCE.  329 

and  convince,  and  convert,  God  can  rouse  from 
their  apathy,  open  their  hearts  to  understand  his 
word,  and  at  a  time,  and  in  a  way  that  shall  make 
his  own  power  and  grace  the  most  conspicuous. 
Prayer  makes  the  doubting  hope,  the  feeble  strong. 
It  gives  humility  and  confidence  in  God.  It 
makes  every  effort  for  the  salvation  of  men  spirit- 
ual and  holy.  "Prayer  moves  the  hand  that 
moves  the  world."  Who  would  be  insensible  to  the 
value  of  prayer  ? 

28* 


LECTURE  XII. 


THE     OBLIGATIONS    OF     THE    WORLD    TO    THE    BIBLE 
FOR    THE    SABBATH. 


Every  reflecting  man  must,  one  would  suppose, 
contemplate  with  grateful  admiration,  the  great 
wisdom  of  the  divine  Author  of  the  Scriptures  in 
the  institution  of  the  Sabbath.  I  know  of  nothing 
like  this  observance  in  any  other  system  of  religion 
except  that  revealed  in  the  Bible,  unless  it  be  some 
feint  traditions  of  it  in  some  pagan  lands  of  remote 
antiquity.  It  is  a  weekly  observance;  fixed  and 
permanent  j  hebdomedal  from  its  original  institu- 
tion, and  to  the  end  of  time.  Some  of  the  ancient 
pagan  nations  had  something  in  the  form  of  an 
hebdomedal  observance.  Hesiod,  the  celebrated 
Greek  poet  of  Bceotia,  who  lived  about  nine  hun- 
dred years  before  the  coming  of  Christ,  says,  "  the 
seventh  day  is  holy."  Homer,  who  flourished  about 
the  same  period,  and  Callimachus,  also  a  Greek 


THE    SABBATH.  331 

poet,  who  flourished  in  the  reign  of  Ptolemy  Euer- 
getes,  about  seven  hundred  years  later,  speak  of 
the  seventh  day  as  holy.  Lucian  also,  a  Greek 
writer,  born  at  Samosata,  who  flourished  about  four 
hundred  years  after  Callimachus,  says,  "  The  sev- 
enth day  is  given  to  the  schoolboys  as  an  holyday." 
Josephus,  the  celebrated  Jewish  historian,  says, 
"  No  city  of  Greeks,  or  barbarians  can  be  found 
which  does  not  acknowledge  a  seventh  day's  rest 
from  labour."  In  the  earlier  ages  of  Greece,  the 
years  were  numbered  by  the  return  of  seed  time 
and  harvest,  and  the  several  seasons  of  labour  and 
rest  5  and  the  day  divided,  not  into  hours,  but  into 
morning,  noon,  and  evening.  The  months  of  the 
Greeks  were  divided  into  decads^  or  three  periods 
of  ten  days  each  5  and  I  do  not  find  any  mention 
of  a  division  of  time  into  weeks  among  that  people. 
There  was  no  Sabbath  among  the  ancient  Ro- 
mans. Their  year  was  originally  divided  by  Ro- 
mulus into  ten  months  *,  and  afterwards,  by  Numa, 
into  twelve.  Their  months,  like  those  of  the  Greeks, 
were  divided  into  three  parts,  kalends,  nones,  and 
ides.  The  custom  of  dividing  time  into  weeks  did 
not  obtain  until  the  reign  of  the  emperor  Severus.* 
Both  the  Greeks  and  Romans  had  their  days  of 
cessation  from  labour,  but  they  were  not  hebdom- 
edal.     They  were  also  religious  observances  5  that 


*  Potter's  Antiquities  of  Greece,  and  Adams'  Roman  Anti. 
quities. 


332  THE    SABBATH. 

is,  they  were  devoted  to  the  honour  of  their  pagan 
gods.  They  were  days  on  which  their  altars 
smoked  with  sacrifices  5  days  of  festivity  5  days 
on  which  their  pubhc  games  were  celebrated,  and 
on  which  their  temples,  groves,  and  sacred  fields 
were  stained  with  blood  and  resounded  with  bac- 
chanalian madness.  When  heathen  poets  and  his- 
torians therefore  speak  of  holy  days,  they  mean 
days  of  mirth  and  wickedness.  Such  are  the  days 
of  rest  throughout  all  Mahomedan  countries.  A  late 
correspondent  in  one  of  our  religious  periodicals,  de- 
scribes a  Sabbath  in  Constantinople  as  a  day  of 
universal  sport  and  diversion.*  Modern  mission- 
aries, if  I  mistake  not,  uniformly  testify,  that  there 
is  no  Sabbath  in  pagan  lands.  I  have  conversed 
with  gentlemen  of  high  intellectual  and  Christian 
character  who  have  resided  years  in  China  and 
India,  who  have  informed  me,  that  they  could  never 
see  any  signs  of  a  sabbatical  observance  in  those 
vast  countries.  Nor  have  I  been  able  to  find  any 
traces  of  a  Sabbath  among  our  own  aborigines. 
The  remark  therefore,  needs  no  qualification  that 
the  Sabbath,  as  its  design  and  duties  are  disclosed 
in  the  Scriptures,  is  one  of  the  strong  peculiarities 
of  a  supernatural  revelation.  It  was  given  to  the 
great  progenitor  of  our  race  while  he  was  in  a  state 
unfallen  innocence  ;  it  was  the  first  command, 
taking  the  precedence  in  point  of  time  even  to  the 


*  Cheever's  Letters  to  the  New-York  Observer. 


THE    SABBATH.  333 

prohibition  of  the  tree  of  knowledge  5  it  rests  on 
the  essential  relation  of  a  creature  to  his  glorious 
Creator.  During  the  whole  progress  of  the  patri- 
archal age,  you  find  traces  of  its  observance.  The 
manner  in  which  its  observance  was  revived  and 
re-established  before  the  commencement  of  the 
Mosaical  economy  and  before  the  Israelites  came 
to  Mount  Sinai,  proves  that  it  was  an  institution 
previously  recognized,  and  had  never  been  entirely 
lost.  The  authority  and  dignity  given  to  it  in  the 
moral  law  affords  decisive  proof  of  its  perpetual  ob- 
ligation. The  allusions  to  it  in  the  Psalms  and  in 
the  Prophets,  as  well  as  its  strict  observance  under 
the  New  Testament,  show  that  it  was  destined  to 
form  a  part  of  the  gospel  dispensation.  The 
Saviour  and  his  apostles  honoured  it,  by  honouring 
the  ten  commandments  as  of  perpetual  force  and 
obligation  j  by  respecting  its  sanctity  in  their  own 
deportment,  and  by  recognizing  its  continuance  at 
a  period  when  all  obligation  to  a  merely  Jewish 
institution  would  long  have  ceased.  Nor  was  any 
thing  abrogated  under  the  Christian  dispensation 
with  respect  to  the  Sabbath,  except  those  tempo- 
rary and  figurative  enactments  which  constituted 
the  peculiarities  of  Jewish  age,  and  changed  the 
Jewish  Sabbath  -  into  the  "  Lord's  Day."*  The 
Sabbath  therefore  is  one  of  the  great  peculiarities 


*  See  these  positions  illustrated  and  defended  in  an  able  treatise 
on  the  Authority  and  Perpetual  Obligation  of  the  Sabbath, 
by  Daniel  Wilson,  now  Bishop  of  Calcutta. 


334  THE    SABBATH. 

of  a  supernatural  revelation.  And  not  only  is  it 
one  of  its  strong  peculiarities,  but  an  institution  for 
the  existence  and  influence  of  which  the  world  is 
under  untold  obligations  to  its  great  Author. 

We  may  advert  to  this  institution  in  the  first  in- 
stance, simply  as  a  day  of  rest.  One  principal  de- 
sign of  it  was  to  give  both  man  and  beast  one 
day's  respite  from  labour  out  of  every  seven.  It 
deserves  our  special  notice,  that  the  letter  and 
spirit  of  the  divine  command  require  both  man  and 
beast  to  abstain  from  all  servile  occupations  on  this 
day.  Rest  constitutes  one  of  the  essential  parts 
of  this  observance.  In  the  language  of  the  Scrip- 
ture, to  "  profane  the  Sabbath"  is  the  same  thing 
as  to  labour  upon  the  Sabbath,  while  to  sanctify 
the  Sabbath  signifies  to  rest  from  labour.  The 
Jews  were  so  scrupulous  in  this  particular,  that 
they  would  not  even  take  up  arms  in  self-defence 
on  this  day  5  so  that  when  Antiochus  Ephiphanes 
and  Pompey  availed  themselves  of  this  conscien- 
tious tenderness,  and  attacked  them  on  the  Sabbath 
day,  they  became  the  victims  of  their  fury  without 
opposition.  It  was  designed  to  be  a  day  of  respite 
from  anxiety  and  toil  j  a  day  of  refreshment  both 
to  the  mind  and  the  body  5  and  though  not  required 
to  be  a  day  of  feasting,  was  specially  forbidden  to 
be  a  day  of  fasting  and  sadness 

And  is  there  not  wonderful  wisdom  and  benig- 
nity in  such  an  arrangement  ?  Man  was  not  made 
for  constant  and  unrelieved  employment.  He  was 
not  formed  for  seven  days  toil,  but  for  six.     No 


THE    SABBATH.  335 

doubt  it  seems  to  many  persons,  that  the  mere  fact 
of  resting  one  day  in  seven  can  exert  very  little 
influence  on  the  condition  of  our  own  race.  To 
men  who  never  labour^  it  is  not  strange  that  this 
thought  should  sometimes  occur.  To  the  mass  of 
pagan  lands,  whose  life  is  one  of  dreaming  indo- 
lence and  sloth,  the  periodical  recurrence  of  such 
a  rest  would  not  make  much  diflference  in  their 
condition.  But  to  a  man  whose  mental  energy  is 
in  a  state  of  perpetual  excitement  5  to  a  laborious, 
working  community  5  such  a  rest  is  like  the  soft 
slumbers  of  midnight  when  it  covers  with  its  gentle 
folds  an  agitated  and  trembling  mind,  and  a  body 
overpowered  with  toil.  The  command  to  rest^  it 
will  be  recollected,  stands  not  alone.  "  Six  days 
shalt  thou  labour."  It  is  in  the  combined  and 
contrasted  influence  of  such  an  arrangement  only, 
that  the  Sabbath  finds  its  appropriate  place. 
There  is  nothing  healthful  that  is  still  and  stag- 
nant ;  and  there  is  nothing  cheerful  and  placid 
where  there  is  no  cessation  from  the  exhausting 
toil  of  this  busy  and  care-worn  world.  God  has 
given  laws  to  this  organic  frame  which  cannot  be 
violated  with  impunity.  Man  can  no  more  labour 
a  series  of  years  without  the  Sabbath,  than  he  can 
labour  a  series  of  days  without  nocturnal  repose. 
The  measure  of  weekly  rest  is  as  wisely  deter- 
mined by  the  Author  of  our  physical  constitution, 
as  is  the  measure  of  our  diurnal  rest.  When  in 
defiance  of  the  laws  of  nature  and  heaven,  France 
abolished  the  Sabbath,  and  rested  one  day  in  ten. 


336  THE    SABBATH. 

instead  of  one  in  seven,  the  experiment  proved  that 
the  amount  of  productive  labour  was  diminished 
by  the  change.  It  has  been  well  ascertained  that 
the  proceeds  of  labour  would,  in  any  considerable 
period  of  time,  be  greater  from  six  days  in  the 
week,  than  from  the  whole  seven.  "-  If  there  were 
two  contiguous  nations,  the  one  of  which  observed 
a  day  of  rest,  and  the  other  laboured  every  day  in 
the  year,  and  if  in  industry  and  tlie  number  of  la- 
bourers they  were  equal,  there  can  be  little  doubt 
that  the  profits  of  the  former  would  be  considerably 
greater  than  those  of  the  latter."  Facts  might  be 
greatly  multiplied  to  show  that  the  repose  of  the 
Sabbath  is  indispensable  to  the  most  healthful  and 
vigorous  exercise  of  the  physical  powers.  In  no- 
thing has  the  Creator  more  obviously  accommo- 
dated his  government  to  the  physical  constitution 
of  man,  than  in  prescribing  this  weekly  rest. 
Just  as  a  beast  of  burden  breaks  down  premature- 
ly, that  is  worked  every  day  in  the  year,  will  the 
powers  of  human  Hfe  prematurely  run  down,  if  the 
toil  of  the  week  is  not  succeeded  by  the  repose  of 
the  Sabbath.  In  an  inquiry  made  a  few  years 
since  before  a  committee  of  the  British  House  of 
Commons  in  relation  to  the  influences  of  the  Sab- 
bath, an  eminent  physician,  who  had  practised  be- 
tween thirty  and  forty  years,  testified,  that  "  men 
of  every  class  who  are  occupied  six  days  in  the 
week,  would  in  the  course  of  life  be  gainers  by  ab- 
staining from  labour  on  the  seventh."  The  Sab- 
bath has  been  emphatically  called  "  the  working 


THE    SABBATH.  337 

man's  friend."  Who  can  doubt,  that  one  motive 
which  influenced  its  great  Author  to  institute  it 
was  compassion  to  the  poor  ?  A  manufacturing, 
an  agricultural,  or  even  a  commercial  community, 
deprived  of  the  Sabbath,  could  not  live  out  half 
its  days.  One  reason  why  princes,  ministers  of 
state,  and  seamen  do  not  live  so  long  as  other  men, 
is,  that  they  have  no  weekly  day  of  rest.  A  few 
short  years  of  vigorous,  excited  exertion,  without 
the  weekly  intervention  of  this  repose,  and  both 
body  and  mind  lose  their  nerve  and  sinew.  And 
there  is  nothing  to  refresh  their  languor  and  invigr 
orate  their  debility,  but  rest.  The  mind  can  no 
more  bear  to  be  over-worked,  than  the  body.  It 
becomes  oppressed  and  burdened,  and  sinks  in  de- 
pression, and  not  unfrequently  from  its  mere  neg- 
lect of  this  day  of  rest,  wanders  in  derangement. 
The  truest  economy  of  human  life  will  be  found 
in  the  provisions  of  that  day  of  mercy,  which,  for 
the  time  being,  shuts  out  the  contrivance,  care,  per- 
plexity, and  responsibility  of  business,  and  invites 
to  calm  repose. 

It  may  be  seriously  doubted  whether  this  distinct 
design  of  the  Sabbatical  institution  is  sufficiently 
considered.  It  is  a  day  of  rest.  No  man  has  the 
warrant  from  heaven  to  make  it  a  day  of  labour, 
except  those  who  minister  at  the  altar.  "The 
priests  under  the  law  profane  the  Sabbath  and  are 
blameless."  No,  the  Sabbath  is  not  appreciated  as 
a  day  of  rest.  There  was  no  day  in  Paradise  to 
be  compared  with  that  "  seventh  day  which  God 

29 


338  THE    SABBATH. 

blessed  and  sanctified,  because  that  in  it  lie  rested 
from  all  his  work  which  he  created  and  made." 
Light  was  never  more  beautiful,  nor  sounds  more 
melodious,  than  when  Eden  was  first  lighted  bj  the 
dawn  of  this  day  of  rest,  and  listened  to  the  voice 
that  blessed  the  first-born  Sabbath.  Nor  was  the 
benediction  recalled  after  ungrateful  man  had  dis- 
obeyed his  Maker.  Man  was  cursed,  and  made  to 
toil  in  the  sweat  of  his  brow ;  woman  was  cursed, 
and  her  sorrows  multiplied,  the  ground  was 
cursed,  and  doomed  to  thorns ;  but  no  curse 
alighted  on  this  day  of  rest.  "  The  Sabbath  was 
made  for  man."  Amid  the  deep  depression  and 
unmingled  darkness  of  the  fall,  this  day  still  re- 
mained, the  unobscured,  unequivocal  pledge  of 
some  distant,  though  then  unknown  good. 

The  Sabbath  may  also  be  regarded  as  pre-emi- 
nently the  means  of  intellectual  advancement.  It 
is  worthy  of  remark  that  the  original  law  ordain- 
ing the  Sabbath,  contains  no  explicit  injunction 
that  it  be  a  day  of  religious  observances,  unless  it 
be  contained  in  the  phraseology  which  requires 
that  it  be  kept  holy.  Nor  is  there  any  injunction 
in  relation  to  the  religious  exercises  of  the  day  in 
the  Old  Testament,  except  that  a  burnt  offering 
of  two  lambs  were  on  that  day  added  to  the  morn- 
ing and  evening  sacrifices.  Reason  itself  teaches 
us  that  if  God  has  reserved  one  day  in  seven  as  a 
sacred  rest.,  that  portions  of  it  at  least  ought  to  be 
occupied  in  religious  services.  Hence  we  find, 
that  under  the  old  dispensation,  God  set  apart  the 


THE   SABBATH.  339 

entire  tribe  of  Levi,  one  twelfth  of  the  Hebrew 
nation,  not  merely  to  perform  the  rites  and  sacri- 
fices which  the  ritual  enjoined,  but  to  diffuse  over 
the  great  mass  of  the  people  religious  and  moral 
instruction.  In  sketching  the  characters  and  for- 
tunes of  the  different  tribes,  their  great  Lawgiver 
says,  "  Of  Levi,  let  thy  Urim  and  thy  Thummim 
be  with  thy  holy  one  5  they  have  observed  thy 
word  and  kept  thy  covenant ;  they  shall  teach  Ja- 
cob thy  judgments,  and  Israel  thy  law."  To  them 
was  the  custody  of  the  sacred  volume  consigned, 
with  the  ark  of  the  covenant  5  and  they  were  re- 
quired to  gather  the  people  together  periodically, 
"  men,  women,  and  children,  and  the  stranger 
within  their  gates,  that  they  may  hear,  and  learn, 
and  fear  the  Lord  their  God,  and  observe  to  do  all 
the  words  of  his  law."  Hence,  when  Nehemiah 
assembled  the  Jews,  after  their  return  from  the 
captivity,  and  restored  their  religious  worship, 
"  Ezra  the  scribe  brought  the  book  of  the  law  be- 
fore  the  congregation,  and  read  therein  from  morn- 
ing until  mid-day.  So  they  read  in  the  book  of 
the  law  distinctly,  and  gave  the  sense,  and  caused 
the  people  to  understand  the  reading."  They 
analysed  the  word  of  God,  and  expounded  it  at 
large,  and  showed-  its  import  and  meaning.  And 
the  same  usage  prevailed  under  the  New  Testa- 
ment. The  Saviour  established  an  order  of  men, 
whose  peculiar  office  and  employment  were  to 
teach  and  instruct  the  people  in  the  great  truths  and 
duties   of  a  supernatural   revelation;   to   call   up 


340  THE    SABBATH. 

their  attention  5  to  give  them  just  apprehensions  of 
what  God  has  revealed,  and  to  enforce  upon  them 
the  obligations  of  his  gospel.  If  you  turn  to  the 
New  Testament,  you  will  find  that  this  service  was 
performed,  regularly  and  specially,  on  each  return- 
ing Lord's-day.  And  this  is  one  of  the  great  pe- 
culiarities of  revealed  religion,  and  one  of  the  dis- 
tinguished blessings  of  the  Sabbath.  Ministers  of 
religion  are  indeed  found  in  every  community, 
pagan  as  well  as  Christian.  Wherever  idols  are 
worshipped,  there  are  altars  and  priests  5  there  are 
soothsayers  and  diviners.  But  their  duties  are  con- 
fined to  the  performance  of  religious  ceremonies. 
They  never  attempt  the  religious  and  moral  in- 
struction of  the  great  mass  of  the  people,  and  ne- 
ver desire  it.  But  the  Sabbath  of  the  Scriptures 
is  devoted  to  diiferent  ends.  In  the  performance 
of  its  appropriate  duties  in  Christian  lands,  every 
man  becomes  a  learner,  and  derives  his  instructions 
from  the  best  and  most  important  sources.  He 
hears  the  Holy  Scriptures ;  he  listens  to  the  in- 
structions and  counsels  of  wisdom  from  the  house 
of  God ;  he  occupies  a  place  in  the  school  of 
Christ,  and  becomes  familiar  with  subjects  that  in- 
terest his  mind, — that  elicit  thought  and  inquiry, 
and  induce  no  small  degree  of  mental  discipline 
and  capacity  for  intellectual  effort.  Ignorance  and 
barbarism  form  no  part  of  the  character  of  men 
who  revere  the  Lord's-day.  You  cannot  consign 
to  intellectual  obscurity,  a  community  that  is  sub- 
jected to  the  illuminations  of  the  Sabbath.     Carry 


THE    SABBATH.  341 

the  privileges  of  this  day  to  the  most  barbarous 
people  on  the  globe,  and  just  in  the  proportion  in 
which  they  are  subjected  to  its  influence,  are  they 
elevated  from  intellectual  degradation.  It  would 
probably  strike  us  with  surprise  to  be  informed 
how  large  a  portion  of  men  exists,  whose  only  op- 
portunity of  information  is  derived  from  the  Sab- 
bath. If  there  is  an  exception  to  be  made  from 
the  general  spirit  of  this  remark,  it  is  in  favour  of 
the  daily  press 'y  and  for  this  reason  do  I  look 
upon  those  who  conduct  it,  as  sharing  with  the 
pulpit  no  common  responsibility.  I  would  say 
more  upon  the  importance  of  the  Sabbath  in  this 
particular,  should  I  not  appear  unduly  to  magnify 
mine  office.  If  a  minister  of  the  gospel  is  labo- 
riously devoted  to  his  own  intellectual  and  moral 
culture,  the  Sabbath,  constituting  as  it  does  one 
seventh  part  of  human  hfe,  furnishes  no  contempti- 
ble opportunity  for  mental  improvement.  Its  in- 
structions are  designed  to  affect  the  great  mass 
of  mankind,  and  address  themselves  equally  to  all 
orders  and  classes  of  men,  not  overlooking  the  ten- 
derest  and  most  docile  age ;  for  scarcely  do  child- 
ren come  into  existence  in  Christian  lands,  than 
they  are  encircled  with  the  light  of  Sabbaths. 
There  is  something  too,  in  the  kind  of  instruction 
which  the  Sabbath  communicates  that  has  the 
happiest  effect  on  the  human  mind.  It  relates  to 
themes  which  call  the  soul  away  from  the  bustle 
of  the  world,  to  contemplate  the  wonderful  works 
of  God  in   creation,  providence  and   redemption. 

29* 


342  THE    SABBATH. 

It  casts  a  veil  over  what  is  seen,  and  uncovers  to 
the  eye  of  the  mind  what  is  unseen.  It  throws 
back  into  obhvion  the  lying  vanities  of  sense  and 
time,  and  brings  forward  the  permanent  realities 
of  eternity,  every  where  disclosing  facts,  principles, 
and  results  which  arrest  the  wandering  intellect, 
and  are  fitted  to  expand  and  exalt  it  for  ever. 
Many  a  sleeping  genius,  reposing  within  the  cur- 
tains of  its  own  unconscious  powers,  has  been 
awakened  to  hope  and  action  by  the  instructions 
of  the  sanctuary ;  and  many  a  germ  of  thought, 
which  otherwise  had  wasted  its  fragrance  on  the 
air,  has  taken  root  and  bloomed  on  this  consecra- 
ted soil.  It  were  a  curious,  but  not  unprofitable, 
inquiry  to  institute.  How  many  well  educated  men 
in  Christian  lands,  have  received  the  first  impulse 
and  sujjgestion  in  their  loftv  career  from  the  in- 
structions  of  the  Sabbath  ?  Exclusive  immersion 
in  the  perplexities  and  cupidity  of  secular  voca- 
tions debases  the  intellectual  character  5  and  it  is 
only  by  being  conversant  with  objects  more  exalted, 
that  the  mind  projects  her  noblest  achievements. 
I  am  persuaded  more  is  accomplished,  directly  or 
indirectly,  by  the  various  institutions  of  the  Sab- 
bath, in  enlightening  the  great  mass  of  mind,  than 
is  accomplished  in  any  other  way,  and  that  it  is  no 
undeserved  commendation  of  it  to  say,  that  it  is 
the  day  of  light  to  this  benighted  world. 

The  Sabbath  also  lies  at  the  foundation  of  all 
sound  morality.  Morality  flows  from  principle. 
"  Out  of  the  heart  are  the  issues  of  life."     Let  the 


THE   SABBATH.  343 

principles  of  moral  obligation  become  relaxed,  and 
the  practise  of  morality  will  not  long  survive  the 
overthrow.  No  man  can  preserve  his  own  morals  5 
no  parent  can  preserve  the  morals  of  his  children, 
without  the  impressions  of  religious  obligation.  If 
vou  can  induce  a  community  to  doubt  the  genuine- 
ness  and  authenticity  of  the  Scriptures  5  to  ques- 
tion the  reality  and  obligations  of  natural  religion  *, 
to  hesitate  in  deciding  whether  there  be  any  such 
thing  as  virtue,  or  vice — whether  there  be  an  eter- 
nal state  of  retribution  beyond  the  grave — or  whe- 
ther there  exists  any  such  being  as  God  j  you  have 
broken  down  the  barriers  of  moral  virtue,  and 
hoisted  the  flood-gates  of  immorality  and  crime. 
I  need  not  say,  that  when  a  people  have  once  done 
this,  they  can  no  longer  exist  as  a  tranquil  and  hap- 
py people.  Every  bond  that  holds  society  together 
would  be  ruptured  5  fraud  and  treachery  would 
take  the  place  of  confidence  between  man  and 
man ;  the  tribunals  of  justice  would  be  scenes  of 
bribery  and  injustice  5  avarice,  perjury,  ambition  and 
revenge  would  walk  through  the  land,  and  render  it 
more  like  the  dwelling  of  savage  beasts,  than  the 
tranquil  abode  of  civilized  and  Christianized  men. 
If  there  is  an  institution  which  opposes  itself  to 
this  progress  of  human  degeneracy,  and  throws  a 
shield  before  the  interests  of  moral  virtue  in  our 
thoughtless  and  wayward  world,  it  is  the  Sabbath. 
In  the  fearful  struggle  between  virtue  and  vice, 
notwithstanding  the  powerful  auxiliaries  which 
wickedness  finds  in  the  bosoms  of  men,  and  in  the 


344  THE    SABBATH. 

seductions  and  influence  of  popular  example, 
wherever  the  Sabbath  has  been  suffered  to  live, 
the  trembling  interests  of  moral  virtue  have  always 
been  revered  and  sustained.  One  of  the  principal 
occupations  of  this  day  is  to  illustrate  and  enforce 
the  great  principles  of  sound  morality.  Where 
this  sacred  rest  is  preserved  inviolate,  you  behold 
a  nation  convened  one  day  in  seven  for  the  pur- 
pose of  acquainting  themselves  with  the  best 
moral  principles  and  precepts.  And  it  cannot  be 
otherwise  than  that  the  authority  of  moral  virtue, 
under  such  auspices,  should  be  acknowledged  and 
felt.  We  may  not  at  once  perceive  the  effects 
which  this  weekly  observance  produces.  Like 
most  moral  causes,  it  operates  slowly ;  but  it  ope- 
rates surely,  and  gradually  weakens  the  power  and 
breaks  the  yoke  of  proffligacy  and  sin.  No  villain 
regards  the  Sabbath.  No  vicious  family  regards 
the  Sabbath.  No  immoral  community  regards  the 
Sabbath.  The  holy  rest  of  this  ever-memorable 
day  is  a  barrier  which  is  always  broken  down,  be- 
fore men  become  giants  in  sin.  Blackstone,  in  his 
Commentaries  on  the  laws  of  England,  remarks, 
that  "A  corruption  of  morals  usually  follows  a 
profanation  of  the  Sabbath."  It  is  an  observation 
of  Lord  Chief  Justice  Hale,  that  ••'  Of  all  the  per- 
sons who  were  convicted  of  capital  crimes  while 
he  was  upon  the  bench,  he  found  a  few  only  who 
would  not  confess,  on  inquiry,  that  they  began 
their  career  of  wickedness  by  a  neglect  of  the  du- 
ties of  the  Sabbath,  and  vicious  conduct  on  that 


THE    SABBATH.  345 

day."  The  prisons  in  our  own  land  could  proba- 
bly tell  us  that  they  have  scarcely  a  solitary  tenant 
who  had  not  broken  over  the  restraints  of  the 
Sabbath  before  he  weis  abandoned  to  crime.  You 
may  enact  laws  for  the  suppression  of  immorality  5 
but  the  secret  and  silent  power  of  the  Sabbath 
constitutes  a  stronger  shield  to  the  vital  interests 
of  the  (Community,  than  any  code  of  penal  statutes 
that  ever  was  enacted.  The  Sabbath  is  the  key- 
stone of  the  Temple  of  Virtue,  which,  however 
defaced,  will  survive  many  a  rude  shock  so  long  as 
this  foundation  remains  firm. 

The  Sabbath  may  also  be  regarded  as  a  distin- 
guished means  of  national  prosperity.  The  God 
of  heaven  has  said,  "  Them  that  honour  me  I  will 
honour."  You  will  not  often  find  a  notorious  Sab- 
bath-breaker a  permanently  prosperous  man.  A 
Sabbath-breaking  community  is  never  a  prosperous, 
happy  community.  Such  a  man,  such  a  commu- 
nity provokes  the  displeasure  of  God,  and  draws 
down  his  judgments.  When  the  Athenians  re- 
called their  celebrated  general  Alcibiades  from  an 
important  expedition,  it  was  because  the  night  be- 
fore his  departure,  he  had  cast  public  reproach  and 
contempt  on  the  gods  of  his  country.  "  If  thou 
turn  away  thy  foot,"  said  the  God  of  the  Hebrews, 
"  if  thou  turn  away  thy  foot  from  the  Sabbath,  from 
doing  thy  pleasure  on  my  holy  day,  and  call  the 
Sabbath  a  delight,  the  holy  of  the  Lord,  honoura- 
ble, and  shalt  honour  him,  not  doing  thine  own 
ways,  nor  finding  thine  own  pleasure,  nor  speaking 


346  THE    SABBATH. 

thine  own  words  5  then  shalt  thou  delight  thyself  in 
the  Lord,  and  I  will  cause  thee  to  ride  upon  the 
high  places  of  the  earth,  and  feed  thee  with  the 
heritage  of  Jacob  thy  father."  Elsewhere  he  says, 
"  If  ye  will  diligently  hearken  unto  me,  to  bring  in 
no  burden  through  the  gates  of  this  city  on  the 
Sabbath-day,  but  hallow  the  Sabbath-day  to  do  no 
work  therein  5  then  shall  there  enter  into  the  gates 
of  this  city  kings  and  princes  sitting  upon  the 
throne  of  David,  riding  in  chariots  and  on  horses, 
they  and  their  princes,  the  men  of  Judah  and  the 
inhabitants  of  Jerusalem,  and  this  city  shall  remain 
for  ever."  There  are  a  multitude  of  unobserved 
influences  which  the  Sabbath  exerts  upon  the  tem- 
poral welfare  of  men.  It  promotes  the  spirit  of 
good  order  and  harmony  j  it  elevates  the  poor  from 
wantj  it  transforms  squalid  wretchedness*,  it  im- 
parts self-respect  and  elevation  of  character  5  it  pro- 
motes softness  and  civility  of  manners  5  it  brings 
together  the  rich  and  the  poor  upon  one  common 
level  in  the  house  of  prayer  5  it  purifies  and  strength- 
ens the  social  affections,  and  makes  the  family  cir- 
cle the  centre  of  allurement  and  the  source  of  in- 
struction, comfort,  and  happiness.  Like  its  own 
divine  religion,  it  "  has  the  promise  of  the  life  that 
now  is,  and  that  which  is  to  come."  I  see  not  how 
men  can  afford  to  dispense  with  the  Sabbath,  what- 
ever their  condition  in  the  world.  It  is  said  that 
a  late  distinguished  statesman,  when  travelling  over 
New  England,  and  observing  her  every  where 
scattered  churches,  and  the  order  and  decency  of 


THE    SABBATH.  347 

her  Sabbaths,  remarked  with  emphasis,  "  I  never 
beheld  such  a  community  before.  This  is  the  glory 
of  New  England."  No  statesman  of  enlarged  and 
comprehensive  views  can  deny  the  benevolent  in- 
fluence of  the  Sabbath.  When  the  influence  of 
this  sacred  rest  comes  to  be  extended  from  shore 
to  shore  5  when  its  temples  crown  every  hill  and 
are  the  ornament  of  every  valley;  when  its  hum- 
ble supplications,  and  hallowed  songs  are  heard 
from  ten  thousand  times  ten  thousand  assemblies 
of  worshippers  j  who  can  doubt  that  its  weekly  re- 
turn to  this  wide  world  will  be  entertained  as  "  an- 
gel's visits,"  though  neither  "  few,"  nor  "  far  be- 
tween." Who  can  doubt  that  those  divine  judg- 
ments which  so  often  complete  the  ruin  of  a  peo- 
ple, would  be  mitigated  and  withdrawn  ?  There 
is  a  beautiful  representation  of  this  thought  by  a 
far-famed,  though  eccentric  orator,  which  it  is  im- 
possible for  me  to  give,  except  very  imperfectly, 
because  I  do  it  only  from  memory.  The  city 
of  London  contains  about  a  thousand  churches. 
"When  I  approach  the  city  of  London,"  said  the 
late  John  Randolph,  "  I  sometimes  feel  that  I  am 
approaching  a  place  devoted  to  destruction.  The 
cry  of  its  abominations  goes  up  to  heaven  ;  and  I 
seem  to  see  the  tiempest  gathering  over  it.  But 
then  again,  I  look  at  her  thousand  spires  that  pene- 
trate the  clouds,  and  see  them  conducting  oflf  its 
fury." 

There  is  another  consideration  of  still  weightier 
import,  which  I  may  not  suppress.  The  Sabbath  is  the 


348  THE   SABBATH. 

great  means  of  perpetuating  the  knowledge  of 
the  true  religion.  Few  persons,  if  any,  are  uni- 
versal sceptics.  All  nations  have  some  religious 
impressions,  be  they  ever  so  erroneous.  The  Sab- 
bath was  originally  instituted  by  God  in  commem- 
oration of  his  own  existence  as  the  Creator  of 
the  world,  and  for  the  purpose  of  being  a  perpetual 
testimony  against  the  worship  of  idols.  It  was 
subsequently  instituted  in  commemoration  of  the 
deliverance  of  the  nation  of  Israel  out  of  Egyptian 
bondage,  and  as  a  token  of  their  vocation  as  his 
chosen  people.  "  Surely,  my  Sabbaths  ye  shall 
keep,  for  it  is  a  sign  between  me  and  you,  that  you 
may  know  that  I  am  the  Lord  who  hath  sanctified 
you."  Subsequently  the  observance  of  it  was  en- 
forced as  a  commemoration  of  the  resurrection  of 
the  Saviour.  The  Patriarchal,  the  Jewish,  and  the 
Christian  Sabbath  all  unite  in  the  same  design,  and 
are  now  all  concentrated  in  the  last  named  day. 
This  day  commemorates  the  three  great  facts  that 
distinguish  the  true  rehgion  from  paganism,  the 
church  from  the  world,  and  the  way  of  salvation  by 
Jesus  Christ,  to  the  exclusion  of  every  other  way. 
The  mere  existence  of  this  day  is  a  public  proof 
of  these  three  facts.  If  these  three  facts,  the  cre- 
ation of  the  world — the  calling  of  the  Hebrew  na- 
tion as  God's  peculiar  people — and  the  resurrection 
of  the  Saviour  can  be  established  5  the  religion  that 
is  founded  upon  them  must  be  of  divine  origin. 
Now  the  weekly  observance  of  this  day  of  rest 
transmits  these  facts  through  all  the  generations  of 


THE   SABBATH.  349 

men.  It  is  a  sign  between  God  and  man,  recur- 
ring every  week.  Just  as  coins  and  pillars,  and  mon- 
uments, and  the  festal  days  which  commemorate 
some  remarkable  epoch  in  a  nation's  history,  are 
signs  and  proofs  of  the  events  they  commemorate, 
so  is  the  Sabbath  a  standing,  public  proof  of  these 
great  facts.  We  should  never  have  heard  of  the 
Sabbath  but  for  the  events  which  it  commemorates. 
When  we  speak  of  it,  we  recur  to  the  reasons  of  its 
original  institution.  When  our  children  inquire 
why  it  is  set  apart,  we  tell  them  ;  and  when  their 
children  make  the  same  inquiry,  they  have  the  same 
answer  5  and  in  that  answer  have  an  epitome  of 
the  evidence  in  favour  of  the  only  true  religion. 
Wherever  this  day  of  rest  is  duly  observed  there- 
fore, it  is  the  great  preservative  against  idolatry, 
polytheism,  and  all  false  rehgions.  Wherever  it  is 
observed,  there,  and  there  only  is  to  be  found  the 
knowledge  of  the  one  only  living  and  true  God,  of 
the  existence  of  his  church  on  the  earth,  and  of 
her  salvation  through  the  great  Mediator.  But  for 
this  testimony,  we  see  not  how  the  knowledge  of 
the  true  religion  would  have  been  preserved  in  the 
earth.  If  you  find  a  people  strangers  to  the  Sab- 
bath, you  may  be  confident  they  are  without  God  in 
the  world.  When  France  abolished  the  Sabbath, 
she  declared  there  was  no  God  but  reason,  and  no 
hereafter.  You  may  wander  at  the  present  day 
over  the  far-famed  cemetry  of  her  metropolis,  and 
read  the  numerous  inscriptions  upon  tomb  stones 
erected  at  that  melancholy   period,  death  is  an 

30 


350  THE    SABBATH. 

ETERNAL  SLEEP !  The  saniG  result  will  follow, 
wherever  the  same  experiment  shall  be  made.  The 
nation  that  disowns  the  Sabbath  is  necessarily  a 
nation  of  infidels  and  atheists.  Look  where  you 
will,  either  among  individuals,  families,  or  commu- 
nities, and  if  the  Sabbath  is  a  desolation,  there  you 
will  find  a  gradual  and  certain  decay  from  true  re- 
ligion to  infidelity  and  paganism.  Let  the  Sabbath 
be  forgotten  for  twenty  years  in  this  favoured  land, 
and  you  will  have  no  necessity  of  going  to  India, 
or  the  Southern  Ocean  to  find  paganism,  for  we 
ourselves  should  have  become  a  nation  of  pagans. 
Blot  out  the  Sabbath  and  no  longer  will  the  Bible 
lead  men  to  repentance  and  salvation.  No  longer 
will  the  silver  clarion  of  the  gospel  "  proclaim  lib- 
erty to  the  captives  and  the  opening  of  the  prison 
doors  to  them  that  are  bound."  No  longer  will 
the  voice  of  supplication  ascend  from  this  ruined 
world  to  draw  from  heaven  the  blessings  bestowed 
by  the  hearer  of  prayer.  No  longer  will  the  Spirit 
of  truth  and  grace  dwell  with  men,  to  dissipate 
their  darkness,  and  make  the  desert  Uke  Eden,  and 
the  wilderness  like  the  garden  of  the  Lord.  No 
longer  will  ordinances  quicken,  or  the  soul  be  com- 
forted, or  mercy  be  triumphant.  Darkness  will 
cover  the  earth  and  gross  darkness  the  people.  Sin 
will  reign.  Satan,  the  great  enemy  of  God  and 
man  will  lay  waste  this  fair  creation ;  will  walk  to 
and  fro  through  the  earth  in  all  the  phrenzy  of  his 
long-wished  for  usurpation,  and  death  and  hell  will 
follow  in  his  train. 


THE   SABBATH.  351 

May  we  not  then  affirm  the  obligations  of  the 
world  to  the  Bible  for  its  Sabbath  ?  As  a  man  of 
the  world,  I  venerate  the  Sabbath.  I  would  not 
be  the  agent  in  the  destruction  of  this  day  of  rest 
for  all  that  earth  can  give.  It  would  indeed  have 
little  to  bestow,  when  all  that  is  illuminating  and 
pure,  elevating  and  noble,  serene  and  holy  have 
become  thus  exiled  from  among  men.  That  man 
has  Hved  too  long,  who  has  survived  the  extinction 
of  the  Sabbath.  My  young  friends  does  not  this 
day  of  light,  and  mercy,  and  hope,  deserve  respect  ^ 
Does  it  bear  no  stamp  of  divinity  ?  The  Great 
Lord  of  the  Sabbath  bids  you  rest  on  that  sacred 
day.  On  that  sacred  day  he  bids  "  reason  which, 
amid  the  bustle  of  the  week,  has  been  jostled  from 
her  throne,  resume  her  sway.  He  calls  con- 
science from  the  retirement  into  which  she  had 
been  driven  by  the  spirit  of  gain,  or  the  strife  of 
party."  And  he  awakes  all  the  tenderness  of  the 
heart,  touches  its  sympathies,  and  opens  it  to  the 
sweet  influences  of  his  love.  Never  does  the 
world  of  nature  more  delightfully  co-operate  with 
the  world  of  grace  than  on  this  sacred  day.  Never 
does  the  dew  fall  in  sweeter  silence,  nor  the  va- 
pours ascend  more  softly.  Never  does  the  king- 
dom of  providenxze  smile  more  significantly  than 
on  the  observance,  or  frown  more  fearfully  than 
on  the  violations  of  this  day  of  rest.  No  man  is 
the  looser  by  keeping  this  day  holy.  O  it  is  enough 
to  sicken  one''s  heart  to  survey  the  immoralities 
that  are  engendered  by  the  neglect  and  abuse  of 


352  THE    SABBATH. 

this  day !  Among  the  causes  which  diminish  the 
appropriate  influence  of  the  Sabbath  in  this  land, 
are  the  rapid  growth  of  our  large  cities,  the  influx 
of  a  foreign  population  from  catholic  countries, 
the  limited  extension  of  the  Christian  ministry, 
the  cupidity  of  monied  and  business  corporations, 
the  example  of  the  rich,  the  influence  of  the  govern- 
ment, the  want  of  parental  authority,  the  thought- 
lessness of  young  men,  and  the  desecration  of  the 
day  by  many  of  the  professed  people  of  God. 
And  yet  as  a  nation,  I  cannot  feel  that  we  are  a 
community  of  Sabbath-breakers.  With  the  single 
and  melancholy  exception  of  the  Post  Office  de- 
partment, the  public  departments  of  business  are 
all  closed  on  this  sacred  day.  The  custom  house, 
the  banks,  the  insurance  offices,  the  public  offices 
at  the  seat  of  government,  the  courts  of  justice, 
the  mercantile  houses,  the  shops  of  business  and 
labour  are  closed  one  day  in  seven.  And  well 
may  we  feel  that  this  is  an  unspeakable  blessing. 
It  would  be  an  insupportable  grief  and  burden, 
were  it  otherwise.  And  yet  is  the  sin  of  Sabbath- 
breaking  becoming  more  and  more  apparent,  in 
the  land.  Notwithstanding  the  strong  barriers 
erected  to  protect  this  sacred  observance,  there  is 
reason  to  fear,  that  the  irresistible  flood  of  business 
and  pleasure  will  roll  over  this  great  institution. 
On  the  behalf  of  this  holy  day  therefore,  I  solicit 
your  example  and  your  influence,  wherever  you 
may  be,  and  as  long  as  you  shall  live.  It  is  en- 
titled  to   your   reverence  and   love.      You   have 


THE    SABBATH.  353 

nothing  you  can  substitute  in  its  place.  Despise 
its  guidance,  reject  its  consolations,  refuse  its 
hopes,  extinguish  its  light,  and  you  are  buried  in 
cheerless  gloom.  If  you  would  that  those  who 
come  after  you  should  rise  up  and  call  you  bless- 
ed; if  you  would  embalm  your  names  in  the 
grateful  remembrance  of  coming  generations  5 
continue  the  exemplary  and  fearless  guardians  of 
the  Christian  Sabbath,  and  transmit  its  blessings 
to  distant  futurity.  On  you  devolves  the  sacred 
charge  of  extending  and  perpetuating  the  unap- 
preciated blessings  of  this  holy  day.  Should  older 
men  become  demoralized  5  should  grave  Senators 
trample  on  this  institution  of  heaven's  wisdom  and 
mercy  ,*  there  is  a  redeeming  spirit  in  the  young. 
I  repeat  the  thought,  let  it  be  one  of  the  great 
principles  of  your  conduct,  wherever  and  whatever 
you  may  be,  to  uphold  the  authority  and  plead 
the  cause  of  this  holy  institution.  Let  no  change 
of  condition,  or  place,  or  pressure  of  business 
tempt  you  to  profane  the  Sabbath.  No  one  ex- 
ternal observance  will  exert  so  powerful  an  in- 
fluence on  your  moral  character  as  a  scrupulous 
and  cheerful  regard  to  the  Lord's  Day.  You 
cannot  become  abandoned,  while  you  revere  the 
Sabbath.  You  cannot  become  useless  members 
of  society,  so  long  as  you  regard  the  Sabbath. 
You  cannot  put  yourselves  beyond  the  reach  of 
hope  and  heaven,  so  long  as  you  treasure  up  this 
one  command,  "  Remember  the  Sabbath  day  to 
keep  it  holy." 

30* 


LECTURE  XIII. 


THE    INFLUENCE    OF   THE    BIBLE    ON    HUMAN 
HAPPINESS. 


The  Bible  possesses  an  unmeasured  pre-emi- 
nence in  the  influence  it  exerts  in  promoting  hu- 
man happiness.  If  the  world  is  indebted  to  a  su- 
pernatural revelation  for  its  language  and  its  let- 
ters •,  for  its  history  and  its  literature  j  for  its  laws 
and  its  liberties  j  for  its  social  institutions  and  the 
mitigation  of  its  more  public  calamities  5  for  its 
morality  and  religious  knowledge  5  for  a  religion 
that  satisfies  the  conscience,  renovates  the  heart, 
and  fits  the  soul  for  heaven ;  for  a  standard  of  ex- 
cellence and  loftiness  of  character,  to  which  it 
otherwise  must  have  been  a  stranger ;  for  the 
divine  power  which  accompanies  its  truths,  as  well 
as  for  the  benign  and  hallowed  influences  of  its 
day  of  rest  5  then  has  the  great  Book  of  which 
we  have  spoken,   conferred   unspeakably   greater 


HUMAN    HAPPINESS.  355 

benefits  on  the  world,  than  any  other — nay,  than 
all  other  books.  But  I  do  not  purpose  to  illustrate 
the  leading  thought  of  the  present  lecture,  by  re- 
capitulating the  substance  of  that  which  has, 
already,  I  fear,  been  too  greatly  extended. 

Some  of  the  ancients,  indeed,  endeavoured  to 
form  the  mind  to  virtue,  but  it  was  a  virtue  based 
on  interest,  or  a  vain  love  of  approbation.  The 
"  honestum,"  or  "  to  xalov'''^  of  the  Greek  and  Ro- 
man philosophers  is  defined  by  Aristotle  to  be  that 
which  is  praiseworthy  5  and  by  Plato  that  which 
is  pleasant,  or  profitable.  Their  virtue  had  no 
broader  foundation  than  the  hopes  and  desires  of 
the  present  life.  Some  of  them  appeared  to  have 
a  wish  to  benefit  their  fellow  men,  and  to  be  in 
earnest  in  their  researches  after  the  truth.  To 
such  minds,  what  a  relief  would  the  perusal  of  this 
Book  have  afforded,  while  it  clearly  disclosed  that 
for  which  they  had  so  long  been  seeking,  and 
enabled  them  to  exchange  the  distant  glimpses 
they  had  obtained,  for  the  full  light  revealed  in 
fines  that  could  leave  no  doubt  of  their  heavenly 
origin !  How  would  they,  had  they  been  taught 
of  God,  thrown  their  poor  speculations  to  the 
winds,  and  recognized  the  virtue  for  which  they 
had  so  anxiously  sighed,  in  the  divine  precepts! 
But  it  was  not  granted  them.  They  lived  in  error 
and  darkness,  for  the  day-spring  from  on  high  had 
not  yet  arisen  upon  their  land. 

Sinful  emotions  are  the  source  of  disquietude, 
dissatisfaction,  remorse,  and   misery.     Envy   and 


356  HUMAN    HAPPINESS. 

unkindness,  suspicion  and  jealousy,  lawless  appe- 
tites, malignant  and  stormy  passions,  infuriated 
rage,  reciprocated  treachery,  mutual  crimination 
and  bitterness, — what  so  much  as  these  distract  the 
heart  and  dry  up  its  joys  ?  There  is  nothing  that 
can  make  such  a  mind  happy.  Perturbed  and  un- 
allowed affections  form  no  inconsiderable  part  of 
the  misery  of  that  world,  where  the  worm  does  not 
die,  and  the  fire  is  not  quenched.  Angels  could 
not  be  happy  in  heaven,  when  their  bosoms  became 
such  a  "  troubled  sea"  as  this.  Our  first  parents 
must  be  doomed  to  a  life  of  toil,  to  a  world  of 
thorny  care  and  the  grave,  when  they  yielded  to 
such  a  spirit.  Ahab,  on  the  throne  of  Israel,  "  re- 
fuses to  eat  bread,"  because  he  could  not  possess 
himself  of  the  vineyard  of  Naboth.  Haman,  in 
high  favour  at  the  court  of  Persia,  makes  himself 
miserable  because,  "Mordecai  the  Jew,  sat  at 
the  king's  gate."  Who  can  feel  himself  at 
peace  when  such  passions  reign  in  the  soul  j  and 
where  is  the  bosom  in  which  they  may  not  be 
found,  unless  it  has  been  purified  by  the  power  of 
the  gospel  ?  Wealth,  pleasure,  and  fame,  are  the 
three  idols  of  this  world,  and  the  love  of  these  the 
predominant  passions  of  the  heart.  And  yet 
they  are  the  most  contentious,  mischievous,  debas- 
ing passions,  and  the  most  prolific  source  of  indi- 
vidual, social,  and  public  calamity^  Vanity  and  os- 
tentation without,  are  very  apt  to  be  the  index  of 
poverty  and  wretchedness  within.  The  rich,  the 
voluptuous,  the  ambitious,  the  great,  are  not  the 


HUMAN    HAPPINESS.  357 

men  who  are  happy.  Marcus  Crassus  antedating 
his  fall  by  grasping  at  the  wealth  of  Parthia,  Tibe- 
rius concealing  his  cruelty  and  lust  amid  the  re- 
treats of  Caproea,  and  Alexander  on  the  throne  of 
the  world,  w  eeping  because  there  was  not  another 
world  to  conquer,  are  melancholy  proofs,  that  amid 
joys  like  these,  and  in  the  highest  gratification  of 
the  unhallowed  passions  which  this  world  can  fur- 
nish, men  not  only  never  can  be  happy,  but  may 
and  must  be  miserable. 

There  is  nothing  that  allays  and  cures  this  fe- 
brile action  of  human  depravity  like  the  influence 
of  the  Bible.  Let  any  one  compare  the  present 
state  of  human  society,  notwithstanding  all  its  im- 
perfections, with  its  true  character  only  a  few  cen- 
turies past,  and  he  cannot  fail  to  see  how  many 
exciting  causes  of  human  misery  it  has  subdued  5 
how  many  a  heart  it  has  kept  from  acting  out,  and 
giving  unrestrained  license  to  its  irritated  selfish- 
ness 5  how  often  it  has  held  the  fierce  passions  of 
men  in  check,  and  extinguished  the  flame  which 
otherwise  would  have  burned  with  indomitable 
phrenzy.  Aftections  that  are  bland  and  virtuous, 
are  uniformly  the  source  of  tranquillity  and  joy. 
They  are  like  "  rivers  of  water  in  a  dry  place." 
They  are  living  fountains  within,  springing  up  to 
purify  and  refresh  the  mind.  The  Bible  alone  tells 
us  in  what  true  happiness  consists,  and  how  it  may 
be  attained.  It  is  not  without  reason  that  it  ad- 
monishes us  of  the  danger  of  mere  earthly  com- 
forts, because  the  very  desire  after  them  is  ordina- 


358  HUMAN    HAPPINESS. 

rily  so  intense  as  to  become  the  source  of  inward 
corruption,  and  in  their  enjoyment  we  forget  our 
highest  good.  I  have  been  not  a  Httle  interested 
in  the  fact,  that  the  Saviour,  at  the  commencement 
of  his  public  ministry,  and  in  the  first  paragraph 
of  his  first  discourse,  should  have  so  entirely  coun- 
tervailed the  commonly  received  notions  of  men, 
in  regard  to  the  sources  of  true  happiness.  He 
who  formed  the  human  mind,  is  acquainted  with 
its  large  desires,  and  is  familiar  with  every  avenue 
to  its  joys,  has  said,  "Blessed  are  the  poor  in 
spirit  5  blessed  are  they  that  mourn  5  blessed  are 
the  meek  j  blessed  are  they  which  do  hunger  and 
thirst  after  righteousness  j  blessed  are  the  pure  in 
heart,  for  they  shall  see  God."  What  a  rebuke  to 
the  spirit  of  this  world !  What  a  contrast  to  the 
restless  solicitude  of  grasping  covetousness  5  to  the 
dissipation  of  the  gay  j  to  the  resentment  of  the 
implacable;  to  the  degradation  of  the  impure; 
and  to  those  senseless  joys  of  ambition,  when  some 
new  flame  ignites  its  hopes  to  quench  them  in 
darkness !  The  Bible  distinctly  teaches  us,  that 
he  is  the  happiest  man,  who  possesses  most  of  its 
peculiar  spirit  and  character.  Not  because  he  has 
the  most  wealth,  for  he  may  be  poor,  and,  like  his 
Divine  Master,  "  have  not  where  to  lay  his  head." 
Not  because  he  "  seeks  honour  from  men,"  but  be- 
cause he  seeks  "that  which  cometh  from  God 
only."  Not  because  he  is  a  voluptuary,  but  a 
Christian.  Not  because  he  has  the  greatest  capa- 
city, but  because  he  possesses  an  internal  spirit,  a 


HUMAN    HAPPINESS.  359 

state  of  mind  and  heart  which  prepare  him  to  ap- 
preciate, and  quahfy  him  to  enjoy,  all  that  is  worth 
enjoying,  and  to  a  degree  that  is  impossible  to  a 
mind  less  pure.  "To  the  upright,  there  ariseth 
light  in  the  midst  of  darkness."  In  the  gloomiest 
wilderness,  he  has  a  guide  that  accompanies  and 
cheers  him  with  encouragement.  No  danger  can 
appal  him,  no  sorrow  crush,  no  doubt  depress  him. 
Darkness  becomes  day,  the  bitterest  flower  yields 
him  honey,  seeming  evil  turns  to  certain  good. 
He  utters  no  complaint,  because  he  knows  his  lot 
is  so  much  better  than  he  deserves  5  he  yields  not 
to  fear,  for  he  is  well  assured  that  by  a  thousand 
contrasts  and  combinations,  "all  things  work  to- 
gether for  good  to  them  that  love  God."  Others 
he  sees  travelling  a  gayer  road,  faring  sumptuous- 
ly, arrayed  in  rich  apparel  5  but  he  does  not  re- 
pine, does  not  envy  them.  He  is  content  that  his 
path  should  be  through  the  desert,  and  over  the 
rough  places,  so  that  he  has  peace  and  joy  within. 
One  of  the  unfailing  sources  of  happiness,  for 
which  we  are  indebted  to  the  Scriptures,  is  the 
spirit  and  character  which  it  requires  and  im- 
parts. 

Man  is  formed  for  activity.  Exertion  is  the  true 
element  of  a  well  regulated  mind.  If  undisturbed 
by  the  implements  of  husbandry,  the  soil  becomes 
hard  and  impenetrable.  Its  bosom  is  not  open  to 
the  dew^  or  rain,  or  to  the  vivifying  influence  of 
the  sun.  The  scattered  seed  finds  no  root,  but  is 
driven  by  every  wind  that  blows  over  the  surface- 


360  HUMAN    HAPPINESS. 

No  verdure  is  seen  to  greet  the  eye,  or  tree  bear- 
ing fruit  to  cheer  the  careless  husbandman ;  but 
weeds,  rank  and  dangerous  to  man,  spring  up 
from  the  soil  that  was  destined  for  his  support  and 
comfort.  So  it  is  with  the  mind  of  man,  when 
locked  up  and  deprived  of  healthful  exertion  he 
lives  for  himself  alone,  and  only  the  most  sordid 
passions  spring  up  within  his  bosom.  Benevolence 
has  no  room  in  a  soul  so  narrow  ;  compassion  and 
sympathy  are  stifled,  and  all  the  nobler  faculties  lan- 
guish. Almost  the  only  relief  from  unmingled  mise- 
ry in  the  indulgence  of  some  of  the  evil  propensities 
of  our  nature,  is  found  in  the  fact  that  they  pro- 
duce excitement  and  incite  to  exertion.  That 
God  who  brings  good  out  of  evil,  has  so  ordered 
it  that  in  giving  rise  to  action  and  effort,  even 
these  propensities  produce  no  small  amount  of 
good,  though  aiming  at  a  very  different  end. 
Avarice  and  love  of  wealth  set  commerce  in  mo- 
tion, provide  labour  and  sustenance  for  the  poor, 
bring  the  ends  of  the  earth  near  to  each  other, 
and  spread  abroad  civilization  and  Christianity. 
The  heathen  of  the  isles  and  of  this  continent 
might  still  have  been  unknown,  still  deprived  of 
the  blessings  of  the  gospel,  had  not  the  ambitious 
spirit  of  adventure  quickened  the  ingenuity  and 
winged  the  sails  of  the  navigator.  The  love  of 
fame  may  be  the  only  motive  that  inspires  the 
tongue  of  the  orator  and  the  pen  of  the  writer  j 
but  God  gives  them  a  destiny  different  from  what 
they  proposed  to  themselves.     Their  names  may 


HUMAN    HAPPINESS.  361 

be  lost  amid  the  rushing  whirlpool  of  time  5  but 
their  words  and  their  works  may  break  the  chains 
of  nations,  carry  intelligence  over  the  face  of  the 
earth,  and  their  influence  felt  throughout  eternity. 
Mankind,  in  this  respect  may  be  not  unaptly  com- 
pared to  the  Alchymists  of  old,  who  spent  their 
lives  in  laborious  search  after  the  fabled  philoso- 
pher's stone.  Their  unwearied  industry  failed  of 
success,  for  it  was  directed  toward  an  object  that 
was  unattainable  5  yet,  though  misapplied,  it  was 
not,  as  subsequent  events  have  shown,  without  its 
sources  of  happiness  to  themselves,  and  benefit  to 
the  world. 

If  then  action  in  itself  considered,  is  a  source  of 
happiness  and  a  benefit  to  mankind,  how  much 
more  when  it  is  founded  on  intelligent  and  benevo- 
lent principles?  Few  sources  of  pleasure  equal 
those  which  arise  from  benevolent  exertion.  When 
intelligent  and  benevolent  principles  stimulate  it 
to  action,  then  it  is  that  the  soul  is  enlarged  and 
elevated,  and  the  bosom  opened  to  every  kindly  in- 
fluence. Benevolence  and  well  doing  become 
their  own  reward,  and  inducements  to  future 
efforts.  The  seed  sown  in  such  a  soil  brings  forth 
fruit  an  hundred  fold  5  and  a  rich  harvest  in  the 
happiness  of  others  adds  to  the  already  abundant 
store  of  our  own.  But  whence  are  intelligent  and 
benevolent  principles  of  action  to  be  derived? 
Does  nature  dictate  them  ?  Have  they  been  dis- 
covered by  reason  ?  Are  they  found  amid  the 
researches   of   philosophy?     Are    they   gathered 

31 


362  HUMAN    HAPPINESS. 

from  observation  ?  Spring  they  up  even  from 
dear  bought  experience  ?  What  is  more  obvious, 
than  that  the  world  needs  a  supernatural  revela- 
tion, if  for  nothing  else  than  to  discover  the  true 
aim  and  end  of  man's  existence  ?  It  is  a  remark 
of  Cicero,  that  "  those  who  do  not  agree  in  stating 
what  is  the  chief  end,  or  good,  must  of  course  dif- 
fer in  the  whole  system  of  precepts  for  the  con- 
duct of  human  life."  And  yet  this  writer  informs 
us,  that  on  this  subject  "  there  was  so  great  a  dis- 
sension among  the  philosophers,  that  it  was  almost 
impossible  to  enumerate  their  different  senti- 
ments." And  hence  it  is  that  the  men  of  pagan 
lands  so  rarely  even  professed  to  put  forth  their 
exertions  for  a  benevolent  end,  and  knew  so  little 
of  the  happiness  arising  from  such  an  exalted 
source.  Great  exertions  from  great  motives  con- 
stitute the  glory  and  blessedness  of  our  nature. 
And  no  where  do  we  learn  what  great  exertions 
and  great  motives  are,  but  from  the  Bible.  The 
wisdom  to  guide,  and  the  aliment  to  sustain  them, 
are  derived  only  from  that  great  source  of  instruc- 
tion and  duty.  Where  on  all  the  pages  of  pagan 
and  infidel  philosophy  do  we  read  such  an  injunc- 
tion as  this, — "  Whether  therefore  ye  eat,  or  drink, 
do  all  to  the  glory  of  God."  Whence,  but  from 
that  sacred  Book  do  we  learn  the  maxim,  so  fami- 
liar to  every  Christian  mind,  "  None  of  us  hveth 
to  himself,  and  none  of  us  diet.h  to  himself  5  but 
whether  we  live,  we  live  unto  the  Lord,  and 
whether  we  die,  we   die   unto  the   Lord !"     He, 


HUMAN    HAPPINESS.  363 

and  he  alone,  is  the  happy  man,  who  has  been 
taught  to  consider  the  nature  and  tendency  of  his 
conduct,  and  whether  it  will  approve  itself  to  God, 
and  advance  the  designs  of  his  truth  and  love  in 
the  world  5  who  makes  his  will  the  rule,  and  his 
glory  the  end  5  and  whose  governing  aim  and 
study  are  to  please  him,  and  show  forth  his  praise. 
Such  a  man  is  happy,  because  he  lives  to  do  good. 
His  daily  employment  is  his  daily  joy.  His  "  meat 
is  to  do  the  will  of  him  that  sent  him,  and  finish 
his  work.  He  may  be  as  great  a  sufferer  as  Paul, 
and  yet  as  happy  as  he.  He  cannot  be  miserable, 
so  long  as  he  acts  from  the  principle  of  communi- 
cative goodness.  No  matter  where  his  particular 
sphere  of  occupation,  he  is  happy.  His  aim  is 
high,  and  he  has  an  object  which  sustains,  and  an 
impulse  which  encourages  him.  His  anticipations 
are  joyous,  his  reflections  tranquil.  He  looks 
backward  with  pleasure,  and  forward  with  hope. 
He  has  the  joy  of  an  approving  conscience.  He 
has  not  buried  his  talent,  nor  is  he  a  cumberer 
of  the  ground.  He  lives  to  bless  the  world.  And 
when  he  dies,  he  bequeaths  to  it  his  counsels,  his 
example,  his  bounty  and  his  prayers.  Another 
source  of  enjoyment  for  which  we  are  indebted  to 
the  Bible  therefore,  is  the  habit  of  benevolent  exer- 
tion. 

It  is  in  vain  to  turn  our  eyes  from  the  sad  spec- 
tacle of  human  misery.  We  cannot  persuade  our- 
selves that  it  does  not  exist,  nor  arm  ourselves  with 
a   stoical   insensiblility   to   evils  which  are  every 


364  HUMAN    HAPPINESS. 

where  around  us,  and  which  we  ourselves  feel.  If 
you  open  your  eyes  upon  the  annals  of  time,  you 
see  an  unbroken  series  of  existencies  who  appear 
for  a  few  days,  or  hours,  on  this  scene  of  action,  and 
then  pass  away.  The  cradle  is  suifused  with  their 
tears,  and,  in  a  little  while,  the  places  that  so  lately 
knew  them,  are  hung  around  with  the  emblems  of 
their  dissolution.  And  between  the  cradle  and  the 
grave,  what  mournful  scenes  fill  up  the  drama  of 
human  life !  What  hours  of  sadness  and  gloom  ! 
What  painful  diseases,  what  disheartening  discou- 
ragements, what  disappointments  and  losses ;  what 
defeated  hopes  and  withered  honours  5  what  de- 
pression and  melancholy ;  what  malignity  of  ene- 
mies and  fickleness  of  friends;  what  unkindness, 
darkness,  and  fear ;  what  individual  and  domestic 
calamity,  and  public  distress*,  what  consternation 
and  dismay  5  all  heightened  and  aggravated  by 
the  distressing  doubt  and  uncertainty  as  to  what 
shall  be  on  the  morrow !  Trials  like  these  befall 
us  at  every  step  through  life.  No  hour  can  we  be 
free  from  the  fear  that  what  we  value  most  on 
earth  may  be  snatched  from  us.  In  this  respect, 
man  seems  subjected  to  a  severer  sentence  than  the 
rest  of  the  natural  world,  and  the  curse  of  death 
falls  with  a  heavier  weight  upon  him.  The  trees 
and  plants  grow  up  to  their  full  height,  fill  up  the 
measure  of  their  years,  and  then  decay  and  fall. 
Flowers  bloom  through  their  passing  life,  and 
then  wither  and  die  according  to  the  laws  of  their 
nature.     Birds  and  beasts  live,  for  the  most  part. 


HUMAN    HAPPINESS.  365 

until  age  creeps  upon  them,  and,  unless  they  are 
destroyed  by  the  hand  of  man,  are  rarely  cut  off 
by  disease.  The  brute  creation  have  no  thought, 
no  fear  of  evil.  Their  hfe  is  not  embittered  by 
the  expectation  that  they  must  die ;  they  have  no 
knowledge  beyond  the  present  and  the  past  5  their 
hopes  and  their  fears  gather  nothing  from  their  ex- 
perience which  may  reveal  to  them  the  morrow ; 
but  they  live  in  contented  ignorance  and  apathy, 
and  at  death  sink  into  the  deep,  never-ending  night 
of  annihilation. 

But  it  is  not  so  with  man.  Man  perishes  from 
the  cradle  to  the  grave  ;  and  "  suffers  a  thousand 
deaths  in  fearing  one."  He  alone  is  aware  of  the 
dangers  that  threaten  him,  and  they  are  every 
where  about  his  path.  "  Man  dieth  and  wasteth 
away,  yea,  man  giveth  up  the  ghost,  and  where  is 
he  ?"  Who  has  not  sympathized  with  the  Per- 
sian poet,  when  he  said, 

« I  passed  the  burying-place,  and  wept  sorely, 

To  think  how  many  of  my  friends  were  in  the  mansions  of  the 

dead. 
And  in  an  agony  of  grief,  I  cried  out,  Where  are  they  ? 
And  Echo  gave  the  answer,  and  said.  Where  are  they  ?" 

How  often  do  w^  grieve  over  the  destruction  of 
our  fondest  hopes  ?  When  heart  is  bound  up  in 
heart,  how  oft  is  the  tie  rent  suddenly  asunder,  the 
sweetest  fellowships  severed,  and  the  joys  of  the 
happiest  life  veiled  by  the  gloom  of  the  grave. 
Life  and  death  seem  to  walk  hand  in  hand  5  and 

31* 


366  HUMAN    HAPPINESS. 

even  while  we  are  rejoicing  in  the  presence  of  the 
one,  comes  his  stern  companion  and  casts  a  Wight 
upon  our  prospects.  Amid  those  very  scenes 
where  we  have  witnessed  the  joyful  career  of  one 
we  love,  we  are  called  to  behold  him  pine  in  sick- 
ness and  suffer  in  death.  The  hand  which  has 
performed  for  us  so  many  acts  of  kindness,  is  now 
reached  out  to  us  for  aid  that  we  cannot  give ;  and 
the  voice  whose  tones  were  such  music  to  the  ear, 
can  now  scarcely  be  heard,  or  heard  only  in  sounds 
of  distress.  All  which  formerly  made  the  delight 
our  hearts,  now  makes  up  their  anguish.  And  if 
in  hope  of  soothing  their  dying  pillow,  we  sum- 
mon strength,  and  stand  by  to  receive  the  last 
sigh,  to  return  the  last  weak  pressure  of  the  hand, 
to  watch  the  advance  of  death  as  he  steals  from  the 
cold  limbs  and  brow  to  the  heart,  and  freezes 
there  the  feeble  current  of  life,  and  then  gaze  upon 
the  lifeless  form  for  another  breath,  another  mo- 
tion, which,  alas !  we  shall  not  hear,  nor  see  j  we 
feel,  for  the  moment,  as  though  this  grief,  this 
overwhelming  sorrow,  could  not  be  supported. 
When,  too,  after  the  first  hour  of  anguish  is  past, 
and  we  return  to  that  cold  clay  to  put  it  in  order 
for  the  tomb,  to  look  still  again  upon  its  changed 
Hneaments,  and  to  feel  that  it  was  but  yesterday 
and  there  was  a  bloom  upon  this  cheek,  a  lustre  in 
this  eye,  a  voice  upon  these  lips ;  we  are  mourners 
afresh — we  are  silent — the  sad  picture  is  all  before 
us! 

Seal  up  this  sacred  volume,  and  I  see  not  whence 


HUMAN    HAPPINESS.  367 

the  light  dawns  to  cheer  this  sombre  picture.  But 
for  the  Bible,  man  would  be  placed  in  a  grade  of 
happiness  far  below  the  brutes  that  perish.  Better 
be  any  thing  than  rational,  without  the  religion  of 
the  Bible.  The  Scriptures  inform  me  that  these 
evils  have  a  cause.  They  all  come  from  the  hand 
of  God.  "  I  make  peace,  I  create  evil,  I  the  Lord 
do  all  these  things."  Chance  and  fate  have  no 
place  in  the  government  of  "  the  God  only  wise." 
Sorrow  is  designed  ^  nor  is  the  design  malignant, 
or  unkind.  The  unseen  hand  that  inflicts  these 
trials  is  as  benevolent  as  it  is  wise,  and  the  Being 
who  dispenses  them  is  as  far  above  all  other  be- 
ings in  goodness,  as  he  is  in  power.  We  learn 
from  the  Bible  too,  that  they  have  a  moral  cause  5 
that  they  are  the  rebuke  of  the  Holy  One  for  our 
iniquity  j  that  they  are  the  discipline  of  a  heavenly 
parent,  and  designed  to  bring  l^ck  his  wayward 
children  to  their  forsaken  God.  And  when  rebel- 
lious man  sees  and  feels  this  truth,  his  soul  is  sub- 
dued to  submission,  to  tranquillity,  to  peace,  and 
under  the  heaviest  calamity  he  looks  upward  and 
says,  "  It  is  the  Lord,  let  him  do  what  seemeth  him 
good  !"  And  this  of  itself  is  the  source  of  abound- 
ing consolations.  How  often  in  our  intercourse 
with  mankind  do.we  cheerfully  submit  to  present 
pain  and  evil,  when  counselled  to  it  by  those  in 
whose  wisdom  and  benevolence  we  have  confi- 
dence. Extend  this  principle,  so  often  and  so 
beautifully  illustrated  in  the  word  of  God,  to  all  the 
evils  of  the  present  Hfe,  and  we  have  that  feeling  of 


368  HUMAN    HAPPINESS. 

quiet,  trusting  confidence  which  supports  the  be- 
liever under  all  the  evils  which  an  all-wise  Father 
is  pleased  to  lay  upon  him.  It  is  a  principle  pro- 
lific in  consolations  to  the  mourner  5  and  well  may 
be  the  confidence  and  joy  of  the  world  and  of  the 
universe.  "  The  Lord  reigneth,  let  the  earth  re- 
joice j  let  the  multitude  of  the  isles  be  glad  thereof." 
And  what  shall  we  say  of  the  hopes  and  pros- 
pects by  which  the  Bible  cheers  the  hearts  of  the 
bereaved  ?  What  rather  may  we  not  say  ?  Is  it 
blind  conjecture  which  the  Scriptures  reveal  re- 
specting the  state  of  departed  man  ?  Is  there  no 
life  to  come  ?  no  great  resurrection  ?  no  comforter 
to  arrest  the  current  of  "mourning,  lamentation 
and  wo,"  after  the  dust  we  love  has  been  deposited 
in  the  tomb  ?  When  reminded  keenly  of  our  loss 
we  exclaim.  Shall  we  not  meet  again  ?  Is  this 
parting  forever  % — is  there  nothing  in  the  Bible 
that  can  answer  the  agonizing  inquiry  ?  When 
we  wander  as  it  were  along  the  borders  of  that 
vast  ocean  which  has  swallowed  up  our  living 
treasures  5  when  we  sit  down  there,  and  weep  and 
call  upon  the  waves  of  eternity  to  give  up  their 
dead  5  when  from  the  shore  of  time,  we  look  and 
listen  over  the  vast  abyss  of  waters,  does  no  sound 
reach  us  ?  To  the  ear  of  faith  there  is  a  voice. 
We  listen,  and  our  grief  is  allayed.  "  For  if  we 
believe  that  Jesus  died  and  rose  again,  even  so  them 
also  which  sleep  in  Jesus  will  Godl  bring  with  him." 
They  do  but  "  sleep."  They  "  sleep  in  Jesus." 
Death  dissolves  not  their  union  with  him.     Yes, 


HUMAN    HAPPINESS.  369 

our  grief  is  allayed,  and  we  journey  on  through 
life  consoled.  No  longer  now  do  our  thoughts 
wander  to  that  mound  of  earth  where  their  re- 
mains have  been  deposited.  We  look  upward  be- 
yond this  sphere.  A  happy  meeting,  a  reunion  for 
eternity  hovers  before  us  like  a  star,  illumines  our 
path,  and  leads  us  forward  in  joyful  hope. 

No  where  does  the  Bible  look  with  cold  indiffer- 
ence on  human  misery.  So  adapted  is  it  to  human 
sorrows,  that  its  precious  counsels  and  promises 
are  scarcely  intelligible,  and  never  appreciated,  ex- 
cept by  those  who  are  "  chosen  in  the  furnace  of 
affliction."  Go  up  with  me  to  that  chamber  of 
sorrow.  It  is  not  the  dweUing  of  a  pagan.  It  is 
not  the  couch  of  some  deluded  disciple  of  Maho- 
met. Nor  yet  is  it  the  abode  of  a  mere  nominal 
Christian.  "  This  I  know  by  experience,"  said  she, 
"  the  days  of  ease  and  worldly  prosperity  are  sel- 
dom to  Christians  their  better  days.  So  far  from 
it,  that  to  the  praise  and  glory  of  God's  holy  name 
would  I  speak  it,  I  have  substantial  reason  to  call 
these  my  better  days — these  days  and  nights  of 
pain — these  days  of  almost  absolute  confinement 
and  solitude  are  not  only  my  better,  but  my  best 
days  •,  because  the  Saviour  condescends  to  be  more 
present  with  me-  in  them ;  to  manifest  himself  to 
me  as  he  does  not  unto  the  world  5  to  stand  by  my 
bed  of  affliction,  and  speak  kindly  to  my  heart."* 


*  Life  of  Mrs.  Hawkes. 


370  HUMAN    HAPPINESS. 

O,  how  dark  are  the  shadows  which  human  reason 
and  vain  philosophy  cast  upon  such  scenes  as 
these !  There  is  no  such  rehef  from  sorrow  as  is 
found  in  the  Bible. 

I  have  spoken  of  the  consolations  furnished  by 
the  Bible  in  trial  and  in  view  of  the  death  of 
others.  But  we  must  penetrate  yet  deeper  sor- 
rows than  these.  There  is  an  hour  when  we  our- 
selves must  die.  If  we  find  death  an  evil  when 
we  mark  its  advances  upon  those  around  us,  what 
will  it  be  when  he  comes  up  into  our  own  cham- 
bers ?  Who  can  trifle  with  this  monster  then  ? 
When  he  invades  our  own  pillow,  which  of  us  will 
not  recoil  from  his  approach,  and  shrink  from  the 
ravages  of  this  king  of  terrors  ?  "  The  sting  of 
death  is  sin,  and  the  strength  of  sin  is  the  law." 
Death  is  an  hour  which  never  fails  to  bring  with 
it  the  consciousness  of  guilt,  and  a  sense  of  the 
righteousness  of  that  pure  and  holy  law  which  men 
have  violated,  and  by  which  they  are  condemned. 
Nor  is  there  any  thing  to  quiet  the  apprehensions 
and  soothe  the  alarm  excited  in  the  breasts  of  those 
who  know  not  God,  at  the  approach  of  this  dread 
destroyer.  Men  who  never  drank  into  the  spirit 
of  the  Bible,  feel  then  that  every  thing  on  which 
they  built  their  hopes,  is  about  to  be  swept  -away, 
and  that,  "  in  that  very  day,"  their  thoughts,  their 
treasures,  their  grandeur,  their  honours,  their  little 
world,  all  perish.  They  have  lived  at  a  distance 
from  that  God  who  now  draws  near  in  his  displea- 
sure, and  tremble  at  the  thought  of  appearing  be- 


HUMAN    HAPPINESS.  371 

fore  him  who  is  so  holy  that  he  cannot  look  on  sin. 
No  knowledge  of  the  Redeemer's  person  and 
work  comforts  them  5  no  welcome  impressions  of 
his  saving  mercy  are  left  upon  the  soul,  and  it  de- 
parts in  doubt  and  darkness,  if  not  in  despair.  So 
full  of  darkness  were  the  views  of  Socrates^  one 
of  the  wisest  and  best  of  the  heathens,  that  just 
before  he  took  the  fatal  hemlock,  he  said,  "  I  am 
going  out  of  the  world  and  you  are  to  continue  in 
it  5  but  which  of  us  has  the  better  part,  is  a  secret 
to  every  one  but  God."  Volumes  might  be  writ- 
ten depicting  the  scenes  of  anguish  and  horror 
which  have  been  exhibited  at  the  death-bed  of 
those  who  have  rejected  the  Bible.  What  multi- 
titudes  of  dying  men,  burdened  with  the  load  of 
unpardoned  sin,  and  tormented  by  the  accusations 
of  a  guilty  conscience,  have  exclaimed  with  one 
with  whose  closing  history  many  of  you  are  fami- 
liar, "O,  that  I  might  come  to  that  place  of  torment, 
that  I  may  be  sure  to  feel  the  worst,  and  to  be 
freed  from  the  fear  of  worse  to  come !" 

Not  so  the  dying  Christian.  To  him  death  has 
no  sting  *,  over  him  the  grave  boasts  no  victory  5 
nor  has  the  second  death  any  power.  "  He  knows 
whom  he  has  believed."  His  "life  is  hid  with 
Christ  in  God."  .  He  has  unshaken  confidence 
that  every  thing  is  safe  in  the  hands  of  Jesus 
Christ.  Often  have  I  seen  him  at  that  momentous 
hour,  and  heard  him  as  his  quivering  hps  com- 
mended his  spirit  to  "  him  who  loved  him,  and 
washed  him  in  his  own  blood."     Time  would  fail 


372  HUMAN  HAPPINESS. 

me  to  tell  of  Ignatius,  of  Polycarp,  of  Augustine, 
of  Hilary,  of  John  Huss,  of  Jerome  of  Prague, 
of  Luther,  of  Melancthon,  of  Beza,  of  Patrick 
Hamilton,  of  George  Wishart,  of  John  Knox,  of 
Tindal,  of  Bradford,  of  Cranmer,  of  Bunyan,  of 
Bacon,  of  Robert  Bruce,  of  Samuel  Rutherford, 
of  Claud,  of  Harvey,  of  Ralph  Erskine,  of  Locke, 
of  Baxter,  of  Matthew  Henry,  of  Whitefield,  of 
Edwards,  of  Brainerd,  Dwight,  Halyburton,  Pay- 
son,  Evarts,  and  a  host  of  men  of  whom  the 
world  was  not  worthy,  all  of  whom  "  died  in  faith," 
and  sung  the  songs  of  salvation  as  they  bid  adieu 
to  their  earthly  pilgrimage.  The  history  of  the 
church  is  filled  with  testimonials  to  the  worth 
and  blessedness  of  the  Bible  which  have  flowed 
from  lips,  which  though  pallid  in  death,  have  glowed 
with  praise.  What  but  this  Book  of  God  enables 
the  child  of  faith,  "  when  flesh  and  heart  fail,"  to 
say,  "  Thou  wilt  show  me  the  path  of  life  5  in  thy 
presence  is  fulness  of  joy,  and  at  thy  right  hand 
there  are  pleasures  for  ever  more  ?"  What  but 
this  prompts  him  to  sing,  "  I  am  now  ready  to  be 
offered,  and  the  time  of  my  departure  is  at  hand.  I 
have  fought  a  good  fight,  I  have  finished  my 
course,  I  have  kept  the  faith ;  henceforth  there  is 
laid  up  for  me  a  crown  of  righteousness,  which  the 
Lord,  the  righteous  Judge,  will  give  me  in  that  day, 
and  not  to  me  only,  but  to  all  them  that  love  his 
appearing  ?"  What  but  this  Book  of  grace  and 
consolations,  when  death's  icy  hand  chills  his  frame, 
and  the  grave  unfolds  its  darkness  and  sohtude,  in- 


HUMAN  HAPPINESS.  373 

spires  the  triumph,  "  O  death,  where  is  thy  sting  ? 
O  grave,  where  is  thy  victory  ?"  Not  more  dis- 
tant are  our  thoughts  from  the  thoughts  of  God, 
or  earth  from  heaven,  than  are  all  the  consolations 
of  reason  and  philosophy  from  the  consolations  of 
the  Bible  to  a  dying  man. 

There  is  one  more  topic  which  gives  emphasis 
to  the  thought  which  I  am  endeavouring  to  illus- 
trate, which  I  wish  it  were  in  my  power  to  present 
in  its  native  force  and  richness.  The  source  and 
fulness  of  created  good  is  the  knowledge  and 

ENJOYMENT  OF  GoD. 

"  Give  what  thou  wilt,  without  thee,  we  are  poor, 
And  with  thee  rich,  take  what  thou  wilt  away." 

The  mind  of  man  is  like  a  ship  which  the  storm 
has  dragged  from  her  moorings  and  driven  out  to 
sea.  It  is  tossed  upon  unknown  waves,  and  has 
neither  peace  nor  safety  until  it  can  renew  its 
communication  with  the  shore.  No  sooner  did  it 
apostatize  from  God,  than  it  was  torn  from  its  pro- 
per element,  and  separated  from  its  proper  object. 
Without  the  knowledge  of  God,  mankind  are  hke 
children  deprived  of  a  father,  driven  along,  the 
sport  of  accident,  with  no  hope  for  the  future,  and 
no  security  that  their  present  happiness  would  en- 
dure, or  their  present  misery  end.  Darkness 
would  overshadow  their  path  from  the  cradle  to 
the  grave.  Admit,  for  the  sake  of  the  illustration, 
that  our  race  were  deprived  at  once  of  all  know- 
ledge of  God,  where  would  be  those  hopes  which 

32 


374 


HUMAN    HAPPINESS. 


support  man  in  the  gloomy  hours  of  adversity, 
where  that  gratitude  and  love  that  lend  such  a  zest 
to  his  hours  of  joy !  What  sadness  would  reign 
over  the  world !  what  unalleviated  despair !  Or, 
if  we  might  extend  this  melancholy  picture,  if  the 
imagination  might  carry  us  beyond  this  earth  to  a 
universe  ignorant  of  its  Maker,  O,  what  a  chasm 
to  strike  the  Infinite  One  out  of  existence  !  Then 
should  we  see  in  their  once  happy  spheres,  the  an- 
gels sitting  apart  and  weeping  that  they  had  no 
God  5  or  behold  them  flying  through  infinite  space, 
winging  their  way  through  the  mazes  of  the  whirl- 
ing planets,  and  seeking  some  token  of  the  Father 
they  had  lost,  and,  as  they  met,  saying  to  one  ano- 
ther. Is  it  so  ?  Have  we  no  God — no  Father  ? 
No,  we  have  no  God !  And  with  boundless  grief 
and  despair  they  would  wing  their  way  farther  and 
farther  through  the  universe.  Then  would  every 
harp  be  unstrung,  every  song  silent,  and  the  de- 
spairing words,  we  have  no  God — no  Father — a 
blind  chance  rules — be  all  that  would  break  the 
awful  silence  of  heaven.  In  one  dismal  region 
these  sounds  might,  perhaps,  bring  some  joy. 
Fiends  might  triumph — might  laugh  and  exclaim, 
Heard  ye  there  is  no  God — there  is  no  Heaven  ? 
This  universe  is  now  one  boundless  place  of 
torment  I  Then  let  it  be  supposed  that  to  this  de- 
spairing world  the  news  should  be  brought  that 
God  still  ruled.  Let  the  note  peal  as  from  a  trum- 
pet through  the  universe,  "He  lives,  he  reigns 5" — 
and  what  transport  would  fill  the  earth  and  the 


HUMAN    HAPPINESS.  375 

hea^vens !  Then  would  the  child  of  sorrow  lift  his 
head  from  the  dust  to  his  Father  who  is  in  heaven. 
Angels  would  string  again  their  harps,  and  re-echo 
the  tidings, — "  He  lives,  he  reigns  God  over  all, 
blessed  for  ever  !" — The  triumph  of  fiends  would 
be  turned  into  shame,  and  hell  resume  her  ancient 
gloom  and  despair. 

We  are  not  competent  to  appreciate  the  effect, 
were  the  knowledge  of  God  blotted  out  of  the 
universe.  There  was  a  moment  when  the  only 
created  mind  fully  capable  of  comprehending  the 
fearful  thought,  seemed  to  feel  it  as  an  insupporta- 
ble reality.  And  who  can  tell  the  feelings  of  that 
mighty  mind  at  that  awful  moment,  when  God  hid 
his  face  from  him,  and  the  suffering  Son  looked 
up  in  vain,  and  exclaimed,  "  My  God,  my  God, 
why  hast  thou  forsaken  me  !"  Nearly  such  would 
be  the  condition  of  this  world  without  the  Bible. 
The  Bible  alone  points  the  exile  to  his  native 
land.  It  conducts  the  wandering,  thirsty  traveller 
to  the  very  fountain  of  life.  It  leads  the  long-lost 
spirit  back  to  God. 

But  beside  the  support  and  hope  which  the 
knowledge  of  God  procures,  unspeakably  greater 
is  the  pleasure  we  derive  from  loving  him.  What 
greater  blessing .  has  heaven  bestowed  upon  the 
human  race  than  pure  and  amiable  affections  ? 
Of  all  men  he  is  the  most  miserable  who  has  no- 
thing to  love.  His  heart  is  cold,  and  his  bosom 
like  the  desolate  heath.  Nor  is  there  any  thing 
that  can  revive  and   refresh   his   withered   mind 


376  HUMAN    HAPPINESS. 

until  he  has  found  an  object  on  which  to  bestow 
his  affections.  No  small  portion  of  our  happiness 
in  this  world  arises  from  the  love  we  feel  toward 
those  who  are  dear  to  us.  We  may  indeed 
have  affections  that  are  not  virtuous;  but  the 
pleasures  we  derive  from  them  do  not  deserve 
the  name.  We  may  love  what  is  unworthy,  in- 
constant, and  changeful;  and  then  our  expectations 
are  defeated.  We  may  love  what  is  transient 
and  dying;  and  then  our  joys  are  turned  into 
grief.  And  yet,  with  all  its  fickleness  and  uncer- 
tainty, earth  furnishes  no  such  happiness  as  where 
heart  yearns  toward  its  fellow  heart.  In  so  far 
as  their  characters  are  faulty,  the  pleasure  of 
our  love  it  is  true  is  in  proportion  diminished ; 
and  yet  with  all  their  blemishes,  the  loss  of  their 
affections  could  not  be  easily  repaired.  But  sup- 
pose those  we  love  are  exalted  beyond  their  fellow 
men,  endowed  with  an  amiable  and  generous 
mind,  gifted  with  a  strength  of  intellect  and  pur- 
pose that  are  softened  by  benevolence  and  con- 
descension, and  over  all  these  qualities  a  winning 
manner  throws  its  attractive  charms;  what  delight 
do  we  experience  in  affectionate  intercourse  with 
them.  We  feel  as  it  were  almost  raised  to  their 
level,  and  enjoy  a  pride  and  gratification  that  we 
are  esteemed  worthy  of  their  love.  And  this 
thought  elevates  us  indeed,  and  keeps  us  above 
the  level  of  the  common  world.  And  how  careful 
are  we  to  do  nothing  to  forfeit  their  confidence, 
and  what  grief  and  self-reproach  do  we  feel  if  we 


HUMAN    HAPPINESS.  377 

have  forfeited  it  5  for  conscience  tells  us  that  the 
folly,  the  error  is  all  our  own.  What  then  must 
be  the  happiness  of  fixing  the  heart  on  God^ 
where  there  is  nothing  unlovely,  nothing  fickle, 
nothing  false  or  dying !  From  our  best  affections 
toward  creatures  up  to  the  love  of  God,  there  is 
a  height  as  lofty  as  his  ways  and  attributes  are 
above  the  attributes  and  ways  of  mortals.  No  fear 
can  haunt  the  mind,  that  he  may  change  in  his 
character,  or  in  his  love.  He  is  above  the  reach 
of  accident,  or  mutation,  perfect  in  benevolence 
and  power,  and  to  those  who  trust  in  him  is  a 
sure  and  perpetually  increasing  source  of  joy. 
Men  no  longer  grasp  at  shadows,  when  they  fix 
their  hearts  on  God.  They  think  of  him,  and  are 
happy;  they  contemplate  his  nature,  and  their 
best  affections  and  purest  happiness  become  more 
exalted  and  more  pure,  the  greater  their  love. 
Solicitude  subsides  into  tranquillity,  peace  is  in- 
vigorated to  confidence,  love  awakes  to  joy,  and 
not  unfrequently  joy  to  transport,  at  a  view  of  the 
divine  excellence  and  glory.  And  then  to  receive 
love  for  love  5  to  lean  on  the  bosom  of  divine 
faithfulness ;  to  make  the  Eternal  God  our  refuge 
and  portion — this  is  the  blessedness  for  which  the 
spiritual  nature  of  man  is  formed.  This  is  that 
great  law  of  moral  attraction  by  which  the  soul 
enjoys  even  a  sort  of  sympathy  with  the  divine  na- 
ture and  participates  in  his  blessedness. 

The  world  has  no  substitute  for  such  a  source 
of  joy.    You  may  be  happy  my  young  friends,  with- 

32* 


378  HUMAN    HAPPINESS. 

out  power,  without  influence,  without  learning, 
without  wealth  ;  but  you  cannot  be  happy  without 
God.  Give  man  all  of  this  world  that  he  desires 5 
multiply  around  him  the  gratifications  of  sense  and 
the  pleasures  of  thought  5  and  if  he  have  not  God 
for  his  refuge  and  joy,  the  day  is  not  far  distant 
when  he  will  feel  that  he  is  like  the  prodigal  in  a 
far  country,  feeding  upon  husks  and  clothing  him- 
self with  rags.  Nothing  can  make  you  miserable 
so  long  as  you  enjoy  the  presence  of  God.  To 
feel  every  where  surrounded  with  Deity  5  to  see 
him  every  where,  and  every  where  enjoy  him — 
this  is  the  blessedness  which  the  Bible  is  capable 
of  imparting.  Nothing  separates  such  a  mind  "  from 
the  love  of  God  which  is  in  Christ  Jesus  his  Lord." 
This  "  green  earth"  may  be  parched  up,  and  all  its 
sources  of  pleasure  dried  away ;  but  such  a  mind 
ranges  more  delectable  mountains,  and  quenches 
the  ardour  of  its  desires  at  fountains  of  living  wa- 
ter. "  The  Lord  is  my  shepherd,  I  shall  not  want. 
He  maketh  me  to  lie  down  in  green  pastures  5  he 
leadeth  me  beside  the  still  waters  5  he  restoreth  my 
soul." 

Such  is  the  influence  of  this  holy  book  on  hu- 
man happiness.  No  matter  where,  or  on  whom 
its  blessings  descend,  its  legitimate  influence  is  to 
make  men  happy.  Wherever  it  finds  him  on  this 
vast  sea  of  trouble,  however  far  from  land,  how- 
ever shattered  by  the  storm,  it  fills  the  torn  sails 
of  the  tempest-tost,  and  wafts  him  to  the  shore. 
Nay,  it  calms  the  tempest.     The  voice  of  the  waves 


HUMAN    HAPPINESS.  379 

is  hushed  by  its  power,  and  the  heaving  ocean  is 
stilled  into  a  peaceful  haven. 

"  Chose  admirable,"  exclaims  the  great  Montes- 
quieu, "la  rehgion  Chrfetienne,  qui  ne  semble  avoir 
d'objet  que  la  felicite  de  I'autre  vie,  fait  encore 
notre  bonheur  dans  celle-ci."  Higher  authority 
has  said,  "  Godliness  is  profitable  for  all  things  j 
having  the  promise  of  the  life  that  now  is,  and  that 
which  is  to  come."  There  are  few  errors  more  to 
be  regretted  than  that  the  religion  of  the  Bible  is 
not  adapted  to  promote  human  happiness.  Its  very 
sacrifices  have  more  than  an  adequate  compensa- 
tion. If  it  commands  us  to  give  up  self,  it  is  only 
for  the  love  of  God  5  if  it  teaches  us  to  give  up 
time,  it  gives  us  eternity  in  return  5  and  in  doing 
this,  it  does  not  even  diminish  our  happiness  in  time. 
It  is  a  reproach  to  Christianity  that  its  disciples  are 
not  more  uniformly  cheerful  and  happy.  The  re- 
ligion of  the  Bible  is  not  a  cheerless  religion.  Un- 
happy Christians  there  are,  but  unhappy  religion 
there  is  none.  God  grant,  my  young  friends,  that 
you  may  possess  an  humble  piety,  a  self-denying, 
laborious  piety,  a  piety  that  lives  above  the  world 
and  walks  with  God,  but  at  the  same  time,  a  cheer- 
ful, happy  piety. 


LECTURE  XIV. 


CONCLUSION. 


We  have  been  considering  in  the  preceding  lec- 
tures, some  of  the  particulars  in  which  the  world 
is  under  obligations  to  the  Bible.  I  would  cheer- 
fully extend  this  discussion,  did  I  not  believe  that 
a  more  protracted  illustration  would  be  an  unsea- 
sonable demand  upon  the  patience  of  my  audience. 
It  was  my  design  to  have  detained  you  by  the  con- 
sideration of  one  other  topic,  and  to  have  shown 
the  obligations  of  men  to  the  Bible  for  a  religion 
that  satisfies  the  conscience  when  it  is  roused  to 
that  great  inquiry,  "  How  shall  man  be  just  with 
God  V  But  as  this  topic  has  more  than  once  been 
incidentally  alluded  to,  and  to  some  extent  illus- 
trated, I  pass  this  evening  to  the  concluding  lec- 
ture. 

The  design  of  this  exercise  is  to  request  you, 
without  any  particular  recapitulation  on  my  part, 


CONCLUSION.  38 1 

to  review  the  ground  we  have  gone  over,  and  in 
this  review,  to  institute  the  following  inquiries : 

Is  NOT  THE  RELIGION  OF   THE  BIBLE    UNIVERSAL- 
LY   ADAPTED   TO    THE    CHARACTER    AND    CONDITION 

OF  OUR  RACE  ?  Whatever  may  be  the  varieties  of 
his  locahty  and  condition,  every  individual  of  the 
human  family  is,  by  nature,  ignorant,  depraved, 
subject  to  infirmities  and  sorrows,  destined  to  the 
grave,  and  the  heir  of  immortality.  The  religion 
which  he  needs,  and  which  alone  is  adapted  to  all 
the  varieties  of  his  species,  and  all  the  pecuHari- 
ties  of  his  condition,  is  one  that  meets  the  exi- 
gencies of  his  condition  for  both  worlds.  It  is  one 
which,  while  it  appreciates  the  importance  of  the 
life  which  is  to  come,  does  not  depreciate  the  true 
interests  of  the  Hfe  that  now  is.  It  is  one  which, 
while  it  does  not  overlook  his  intellectual  worth, 
and  his  social  and  public  relations  j  his  freedom, 
his  dignity,  his  happiness,  his  usefulness,  as  a  citi- 
zen of  this  world  5  provides  mainly  for  his  moral 
purity,  and  the  glory  and  immortality  that  await 
him  at  the  termination  of  his  earthly  career.  It 
is  one  which  consults  the  claims,  not  of  one  class 
of  human  society  merely,  but  of  all  classes ;  not 
of  one  period  of  time  merely,  but  of  all  periods  5 
not  of  one  clime  -merely,  but  of  all  climes  5  not  of 
one  form  of  government  merely,  but  of  all  forms 
of  government  5  not  of  one  locality,  or  a  limited 
circle,  but  of  all  localities,  and  the  most  enlarged 
circle  5  not  of  one  particular  nation,  or  people,  but 
of  all  nations,  languages,  and  men,  under  the  face 


382  CONCLUSION. 

of  the  whole  heaven.  We  do  not  ask  for  a  reli- 
gion that  is  fitted  for  the  arctic,  and  yet  has  no 
fitness  for  the  antarctic  circle  5  a  religion  that  is 
adapted  to  the  language  and  manners  of  the  east, 
and  yet  has  no  adaptation  to  those  of  the  west  j 
but  one  that  has  in  it  nothing  local,  nothing  restric- 
tive, whose  principles  are  applicable  every  where, 
and  whose  institutions  may  every  where  be  prac- 
tised. We  are  mainly  thankful  for  a  religion  that 
consults  our  interests  for  eternity  5  while,  at  the 
same  time  we  need  one  that  consults  our  true  and 
permanent  interests  for  time.  We  need  one,  too, 
that  consults  all  the  peculiarities  and  variety  of  hu- 
man condition  5  one  that  is  fitted  to  satisfy  all  the 
faculties  of  the  soul;  one  which,  instead  of  re- 
tarding, advances  the  progress  of  the  human  mind, 
satisfies  the  conscience,  encourages  the  imagina- 
tion, and  enobles  all  the  natural  and  moral  affec- 
tions. Every  faculty  of  the  soul,  as  well  as  every 
individual  of  the  race,  is  diseased  and  infirm,  and 
needs  some  catholicon,  some  universal  remedy, 
some  specific  that  can  operate  on  every  malady, 
and  that  proves  itself  worthy  of  confidence  by  its 
actual  and  well  attested  results. 

Have  we  not  seen  that  such  a  religion  is  found 
in  the  Bible,  and  only  there  ?  Just  in  proportion 
to  the  degree  of  practical  influence  which  the 
Bible  has  exerted  on  the  more  limited  or  more  en- 
larged circles  of  human  society,  on  the  intellectual, 
political,  and  moral  condition  of  men,  on  their  in- 
quiries and  motives,  on  their  principles  and  con- 


CONCLUSION.  383 

duct,  and  on  their  enjoyments  and  expectations, 
may  we  discover  its  universal  adaptation  to  the 
great  family  of  man.  No  where  are  its  effects 
confined  to  time,  or  place,  or  age,  or  sex,  or  con- 
dition. No  climate,  no  degree  of  intellectual  cul- 
ture, no  form  of  government,  however  despotic  or 
however  free,  is  above,  beneath,  or  beyond  its 
power.  No  physical  or  moral  constitution  has 
proved  a  barrier  to  its  access.  The  civilized  Eu- 
ropean, and  the  savage  Hottentot,  have  alike  found 
its  "  yoke  easy  and  its  burden  light."  Every  where 
and  at  all  times,  it  has  found  minds  to  whom  its 
regeneration  was  necessary  and  its  Redeemer  pre- 
cious. Its  followers  are  found  in  the  camp  and  in 
the  forum,  among  the  rich  and  the  poor,  among 
the  learned  and  ignorant.  It  has  found  its  way  to 
the  shop  of  the  artisan,  the  prison  of  criminals, 
the  tribunals  of  justice,  and  the  thrones  of  kings.* 
It  is  a  religion  that  is  never  insipid  and  dull,  never 
grows  old,  or  vanishes  away.  It  is  a  religion  that 
is  never  behind  the  spirit  of  the  age,  but  always  in 
advance  of  it,  leading  it  onward,  and  inscribing  on 
all  its  improvements,  "  Holiness  to  the  Lord." 
Other  things  may  change  5  but  the  religion  of  the 
Bible  never  changes.  What  it  was  in  the  day  of 
Christ  and  his  apostles,  it  is  now,  and  always  will 
be.  It  has  nothing  pliable  and  temporizing  in  its 
principles,  and  yet  is  it  alike  adapted  to  all.     Every 


*  For  the  illustrations  on  this  page,  and  for  some  of  the 
phraseology,  the  author  is  indebted  to  a  discourse  of  A.  Vinet, 
Professor  of  Theology,  in  Lausanne. 


384  CONCLUSION. 

where  its  effects  are  the  same.  These  things  can 
be  affirmed  of  no  other  reHgion,  and  of  no  system 
of  philosophy.  Other  reUgions  have  been  insti- 
tuted, and  flourished,  and  died,  because  they  were 
adapted  to  tiie  times  and  the  spirit  of  the  age. 
Neither  paganism  nor  Mahomedanism  can  ever  be- 
come the  religion  of  the  world.  Nor  can  the  reli- 
gion of  Zoroaster,  destined  as  it  is,  to  live  only 
under  its  own  native  skies,  and  that,  no  longer  than 
the  gospel  has  an  opportunity  of  superseding  it. 
The  Bible  alone  can  ever  become  the  religion  of 
the  world,  because  this  alone  corresponds  to  the 
universal  exigencies  of  men,  to  the  constantly  re- 
curring wants  of  humanity  independent  of  acci- 
dental circumstances,  and  irrespective  of  place  and 
time.  Some  of  my  most  admiring  views  of  the 
Bible  arise  from  contemplating  its  wonderful 
adaptation  to  all  times  and  places,  and  to  every 
variety  of  character  which  this  fallen  world  pre- 
sents. The  enlightened  and  the  ignorant,  the  lofty 
as  well  as  the  abject,  the  meanest  as  well  as  the 
most  splendid  forms  of  human  sin  and  misery,  the 
living  and  the  dying,  ignorance,  wickedness,  sor- 
rows and  helplessness,  which  no  other  counsels  of 
love  and  tenderness  can  reach,  are  all  accessible 
to  its  transforming  influence  and  precious  consola- 
tions, and  while  convinced,  rebuked  and  humbled 
by  its  censures,  are  comforted  by  its  hopes. 

But  there  is  another  inquiry  : —  is  not  the  re- 
ligion OF  THE  BIBLE  A  BENEVOLENT  RELIGION  ?    Is 

not  the  world,  in  every  view,  the  better  and  the 


CONCLUSION.  385 

happier  for  this  wonderful  book  ?  Has  it  not  ex- 
erted a  favourable  influence  upon  the  learning,  the 
laws,  the  liberties,  the  social  institutions,  the  mo- 
rality, the  holiness,  the  happiness  of  mankind? 
Have  any  forms  of  government,  any  political  sys- 
tems, any  theories  of  social  order,  any  refinements 
of  human  philosophy  accomphshed  for  men  what 
the  Bible  has  accomplished  ?  Wherever  you  trace 
its  circulation,  you  see  blessings  every  where  ac- 
companying its  progress.  Nothing  has  contributed 
so  largely  to  the  temporal  comfort  of  mankind.  It 
has  scattered  the  darkness  of  intellect  5  it  has  given 
security  to  life,  liberty  and  property ;  it  has  im- 
parted mildness  and  efiicacy  to  law  5  it  has  elevated 
woman  from  the  degradation  of  a  slave  •,  it  has  set 
in  motion  a  thousand  systems  of  sacred  charity  to 
bless  the  poor,  the  diseased,  the  widow,  thei  or- 
phan, the  blind  and  the  dumb.  It  has  strength- 
ened the  weak  and  confirmed  the  strong  5  it  has 
convinced  the  thoughtless,  reclaimed  the  wander- 
ing, comforted  the  mourner,  and  directed  the  eye 
of  untold  millions  to  an  "  exceeding  and  eternal 
weight  of  glory."  Wherever  it  has  come,  it  has 
been  a  stream  of  health  and  salvation.  It  pro- 
fesses a  benevolent  design ;  it  has  openly  pledged 
itself  to  become  a  blessing  to  the  world  5  and  it  has 
been  redeeming  this  pledge  and  accomplishing  this 
design,  ever  since  it  was  first  published  to  men. 
Though  the  experiment  has  not  been  so  full  and 
thorough  as  it  will  have  been  hereafter,  it  has  been 

sufficiently  full  to  evince  its   triumphs.     Had  it 

33 


386  CONCLUSION. 

failed,  how  many  myriads  of  tongues  would  have 
proclaimed  its  defeat !  Every  one  who  looks  into 
the  Bible  can  see  that  its  great  object  is  to  make 
men  good,  useful  and  happy.  Such  is  the  obvious 
design  and  tendency  of  its  precepts,  its  prohibitions, 
its  doctrines  and  principles,  its  institutions  and  pri- 
vileges, its  punishments  and  rewards.  Whatever 
is  pure,  honest,  true,  lovely,  and  of  good  report,  it 
encourages  and  requires  5  while  all  that  is  impure, 
dishonest,  false,  unlovely  and  uncommendable,  it 
discourages  and  forbids.  All  that  can  assimilate  a 
creature  of  yesterday  to  his  Maker,  and  prepare 
him  for  the  family  and  fellowship  of  angels,  it  re- 
quires 5  while  all  that  renders  him  deformed  and 
odious,  that  severs  the  bonds  of  moral  union  and 
fits  him  to  become  the  companion  of  foul  and  mise- 
rable spirits,  and  an  eternal  outcast,  it  forbids.  It 
encourages  no  vice,  no  sinful  passions  and  propen- 
sities 5  while  it  discountenances  and  condemns 
every  corrupt  principle  and  every  lurking  source 
of  evil.  Wherever  it  has  exerted  its  appropriate 
influence,  it  has  imparted  new  affections,  new 
hopes,  new  motives  of  conduct,  and  a  new  and 
happy  character.  It  imparts  views  and  affections 
which  resemble  those  of  the  redeemed  in  heaven, 
and  differ  from  them  only  in  degree.  They  are 
the  opening  blossoms,  the  unripe  fruit  which  will 
hereafter  hang  in  all  its  richness  and  maturity 
on  the  Tree  of  life  which  is  in  the  midst  of  the 
Paradise  of  God.  By  gradually  diffusing  its  own 
spirit  of  righteousness,  peace,  and  joy  in  the  Holy 


CONCLUSION.  387 

Ghost,  it  has  changed  the  face  of  the  world,  and 
uprooted  those  deep  foundations  of  human  society 
which  were  every  where  inlaid  with  injustice,  op- 
pression and  misery.  It  has  renovated  the  charac- 
ter of  individuals,  families  and  nations  •,  and  in  the 
same  proportion  in  which  its  principles  and  spirit 
have  prevailed,  has  banished  sin  and  misery  from 
the  abodes  of  men.  Its  influence  has  not  always 
been  alike  uniform,  because  it  has  sometimes  had 
more  difficulties  and  opposition  to  encounter  than 
at  others  5  nor  has  it  always  been  alike  visible,  even 
where  it  has  been  real  and  felt,  because  its  plans 
are  comprehensive  and  it  acts  upon  a  large  scale. 
But  even  where  most  obstructed,  it  has  left  sensi- 
ble traces  of  its  benevolent  design;  and  where 
least  observed,  it  has  often  been  preparing  the  way 
for  its  most  extended  conquests. 

May  it  not  then  be  said,  that  the  religion  of  the 
Bible  is  a  benevolent  religion?  Who,  that  is  a 
friend  to  man,  is  not  the  friend  of  the  Bible  ? 
What  part  of  the  earth  that  now  enjoys  them,  can 
aftbrd  to  dispense  with  the  Scriptures  ?  What 
greater  calamity  could  befall  our  world  than  to  lose 
the  last  copy  of  this  sacred  Book  ?  What  bene- 
volent man  would  extinguish  such  a  light  as  this  ? 
Whoever  was  induced,  from  a  sincere  regard  to 
the  best  interests  of  his  fellow  men,  to  subvert  the 
foundation  of  so  much  pubHc  tranquillity,  and  so 
many  private  virtues  and  hopes  ?  Who  would 
bring  back  upon  the  world  the  ignorance  and  ser- 
vitude, the  horror  and  crime  of  the  dark  ages? 


2    !?.»-5 


388  CONCLUSION. 

Who  would  be  the  agent  in  inducing  it  to  retrace 
its  steps  to  the  ignorance  and  superstitions  of  pa- 
ganism 5  to  the  impure  and  sanguinary  altars  of 
Baal-Peor,  Moloch,  and  Ashtaroth  5  to  the  obscene 
groves  of  oriental  idolatry ;  to  the  hero-gods  of 
Egypt  and  Greece,  and  to  all  that  shall  foster  the 
basest  and  most  malignant  passions  of  men  ? 
Who  would  throw  back  the  human  intellect  upon 
a  state  of  scepticism  and  uncertainty  as  to  the  re- 
ality of  a  future  and  immortal  existence,  and  the 
way  of  securing  its  blessedness  by  faith  in  the  only 
Redeemer  ?  Who  would  impart  anew  all  their 
power  to  those  exciting  causes  of  human  depravity 
which  the  Bible  has  subdued,  or  restrained  ?  Who 
would  dry  up  those  living  fountains  of  joy  which 
it  has  opened  ?  Who  would  destroy  or  diminish 
its  motives  to  well-doing,  and  wither  its  fruits  of 
righteousness  ?  Who  would  refuse  its  consolations 
to  the  heart  of  the  bereaved,  and  provoke  afresh 
those  tears  of  the  mourner  which  it  has  wiped 
away  ?  Who  would  tell  the  widow  and  the  or- 
phan to  go  and  visit  the  tombs  of  those  they  loved, 
and  come  trembling  away,  trembling  on  through 
life,  trembling  and  uncertain  to  the  grave,  to  learn 
all  there,  but  not  to  bring  back  the  secret  ?  O, 
where  is  the  man  that  would  thus  consent  to  re- 
store to  death  the  sting,  and  to  the  grave  the  vic- 
tory, which  the  Bible  has  taken  away  ?  No  cal- 
culations could  measure,  no  numbers  estimate  the 
loss,  were  this  Book  to  be  blotted  out  of  existence  5 
nor  were  it  possible  to  appreciate  it,  except  from 


CONCLUSION.  389 

the  extended  cry  of  misery  and  despair  that  would  be 
consequent  on  excluding  it  from  the  world.  Fiends, 
alone,  and  men  like  fiends,  would  toll  its  funeral 
knell,  and  crowd  in  joyful  procession  to  its  tomb ; 
while  virtuous  and  holy  minds,  veiled  in  mourning, 
and  bathed  in  tears,  would  turn  away  disconsolate, 
and  bury  their  hopes  in  the  same  grave  with  the 
Bible. 

May  we  not  also  say,  in  view  of  the  preceding 
lectures,  that  the  Bible  is  a  book  pre-emi- 
nently    DISTINGUISHED     FOR     ITS     INTELLECTUAL 

SUPERIORITY  ?  With  very  few  exceptions,  I  have 
carefully  read  this  book  every  day  for  more  than 
forty  years,  and  I  have  never  discovered  in  it  a 
single  mark  of  intellectual  imbecility.  Though 
portions  of  it  were  written  during  the  periods  of  this 
world's  infancy  and  darkness,  and  when  contempo- 
raneous authors  evinced  nothing  more  than  their 
ignorance  and  weakness  5  though  it  treats  of  a  vast 
variety  of  themes,  difficult,  complicated,  and  some 
of  them  mysterious  *,  yet  does  it  every  where 
evince  a  powerful  and  well-disciplined  intelligence. 
In  mere  intellectual  excellence,  it  has  claims  to 
superiority  over  every  other  and  all  other  books. 

It  is  in  every  view  an  original  work.  It  is  im- 
possible for  language  to  speak  of  it  in  this  respect 
in  the  terms  of  commendation  which  it  deserves. 
Its  amazing  thoughts  and  combinations  of  thought, 
discover  wonderful  originality  of  mind.  Read, 
for  example,  the  Ten  Commandments  given  from 
Mount  Sinai  by  Moses  5  a  code  of  laws  so  wonder- 

33* 


390  CONCLUSION. 

fully  comprehensive  and  perfect,  that  it  cannot  be 
improved  upon  by  all  the  legislative  wisdom  of  the 
world,  either  as  it  regards  its  influence  upon  hu- 
man opinions,  affections,  and  conduct.  And  the 
entire  book  exhibits  throughout,  the  same  origi- 
nality and  simplicity  of  thought.  While  it  aims 
not  at  originality  for  its  own  sake,  yet  "  it  makes 
disclosures  which  have  eclipsed  and  consigned  to 
oblivion  all  prior  discoveries."  It  does  not  disdain 
to  dwell  upon  important  truths  that  are  old,  and 
give  them  to  the  world  again  with  "  all  that  origi- 
nal freshness  and  force  which  is  the  peculiar  pre- 
rogative of  genius,"  nor  does  it  withhold  disclosures 
that  are  peculiarly  its  own.  Many  of  its  instruc- 
tions are  common-place  to  us,  while  to  the  most 
learned  minds  of  Greece  and  Rome,  they  were 
"  new  and  strange  things,"  and  have  added  almost 
every  thing  that  is  original  and  valuable  to  our  in- 
tellectual resources.  Its  sublimest  truths  and 
great  peculiarities  it  places  in  a  clear  and  strong 
light  5  and  what  is  always  the  work  of  an  original  and 
powerful  mind,  makes  them  as  level  to  the  capaci- 
ties of  the  meanest,  as  of  the  highest  intellect. 
To  cursory  readers,  whose  object  is  amusement, 
they  afford  comparatively  little  interest ;  but  to 
those  who  will  consent  to  digest  what  they  read, 
they  will  prove  a  perfectly  original  source  of  men- 
tal improvement. 

The  Bible  is  also  an  inexhaustible  book.  The 
extent,  number,  variety  and  importance  of  the 
subjects  of  which  it  treats,  the  weight  and  perti- 


CONCLUSION.  391 

nence  of  its  instructions,  as  well  as  the  illimitable 
extent  of  views  it  opens  to  the  mind,  give  it  a  pre- 
eminence above  all  other  books  that  ever  were 
written.  The  more  you  gaze  at  its  splendours, 
the  more  is  your  vision  dazzled  and  overpowered ; 
and  the  more  you  investigate  its  truths,  the  more 
do  its  resources  appear  unwasted  and  unwasting. 
It  has  exhausted  many  a  life,  and  many  a  capa- 
cious and  vigorous  mind,  while  itself  remains  un- 
exhausted. There  are  men  who  have  studied  this 
volume  most  thoroughly  and  intensely,  and  who, 
the  more  they  have  studied,  have  been  the  more 
charmed  with  its  clearness  and  simplicity;  and 
who,  at  the  same  time,  have  been  at  every  step  of 
their  progress,  more  and  more  deeply  convinced 
that  it  is  a  fathomless  profound  of  light  and  know- 
ledge. There  are  those  who  have  made  it  the 
chief  object  of  their  investigation  for  half  a  cen- 
tury ;  who  have  studiously  examined  every  para- 
graph it  contains,  some  fifty  or  an  hundred  times ; 
and  who,  at  every  fresh  perusal,  have  discovered 
new  thoughts  and  new  sources  for  admiration  and 
joy.  It  has  been  read  and  studied  a  thousand  fold 
more  than  any  other  book ;  libraries  have  been 
written  upon  it,  and  while,  by  every  unwearied  re- 
search, you  see  that  new  truths  are  elicited,  you  at 
the  same  time  hear  the  most  patient  students  of 
its  pages  confess,  that  the  more  deeply  they  have 
been  absorbed  in  their  contemplations  of  it,  the 
deeper  has  been  their  conviction  of  its  illimitable 
resources. 


392  CONCLUSION. 

Mark  also  the  intellect  discoverable  in  the  per- 
fect harmony  and  unity  of  its  object.  It  was  not 
composed  in  a  single  age,  but  in  the  progress  of 
sixteen  hundred  years,  and  during  a  period  in 
which  the  views  and  opinions  of  men  were  in  a 
state  of  great  fluctuation.  It  was  not  written  by 
one  man,  but  a  great  variety  of  men — men  in 
different  classes  of  human  society — men  imbued 
with  different  prejudices — unlettered  men,  and 
men  of  science.  They  wrote,  too,  upon  subjects 
on  which  men  are  specially  prone  to  differ.  Most 
of  the  writers  also  were  entirely  unknown  to  one 
another.  And  yet  there  is  the  same  great  out- 
line— there  are  the  same  principles,  and  the  same 
great  object  and  end.  Every  thing  is  so  harmo- 
nious throughout  the  whole  book,  that,  did  you  not 
know  otherwise,  but  for  the  variation  in  style  and 
circumstance,  you  might  naturally  suppose  it  came 
from  the  same  pen.  The  instances  of  apparent 
disagreement  among  the  different  writers  of  the 
sacred  volume,  and  of  apparent  contradiction  in 
the  same  writers,  are  found  on  inquiry,  to  be  no 
disagreement  in  reality,  but  rather  a  confirmation 
of  their  substantial  harmony.  There  has  been 
some  governing  and  strong  intelligence  presiding 
over  these  successive  narratives  and  instructions. 
One  grand  design,  one  undivided  system  of  truth 
and  duty,  redemption  and  retribution,  runs  through 
the  whole. 

But  more  than  all,  does  the  intellectual  superi- 
ority of  the  Scriptures  appear  in  the  elevation  and 


CONCLUSION.  393 

grandeur  of  the  design  itself.  Let  a  man  set 
down  to  the  perusal  of  this  book,  from  beginning 
to  end,  as  he  would  study  a  tragedy,  or  epic  poem, 
and  he  will  discover  traces  of  a  plan  which,  in  its 
commencement,  progress,  filling  up,  close  and  ca- 
tastrophe, exhibits  powers  of  a  most  original  and 
inventive  genius.  It  carries  you  back  into  the 
ages  of  eternity,  and  developes  its  original  purpose 
at  a  time  when  "there  were  no  depths,  and  no 
fountains  of  water,  and  before  ever  the  earth  was." 
The  theatre  of  this  wonderful  drama  is  this  ex- 
tended and  beautiful  earth ;  the  great  actors  in  it, 
the  three  glorious  Persons  in  the  ever-blessed  God- 
head, angels  and  men  5  the  spectators,  all  intelli- 
gent existencies  5  the  time,  from  the  primeval 
creation  down  to  the  period  when  time  shall  be 
lost  in  eternity;  the  interests  at  stake,  the  well- 
being  of  every  son  and  daughter  of  Adam ;  the 
events  disclosed,  the  apostacy  of  angels  and  men 
— the  predicted  Seed  of  the  woman  waging  war 
upon  the  kingdom  of  darkness — ^the  special  voca- 
tion of  a  people  from  whom  the  Messiah  was  to 
be  descended — the  fearful  revolution  of  empires, 
and  the  rapid  changes  in  human  affairs  with  a 
view  to  his  advent — his  wonderful  incarnation,  and 
more  wonderful  character,  God  and  man  myste- 
riously united — his  death  and  sacrifice  on  the 
cross  as  a  satisfaction  to  divine  justice  for  the  sins 
of  men — the  descent  of  the  Holy  Spirit — the  pro- 
gressive conflict  between  light  and  darkness,  holi- 
ness and  sin — the  apparently  doubtful  issue— the 


394  CONCLUSION. 

ultimate  triumph  of  the  Mighty  Redeemer — the 
resurrection  from  the  dead  on  the  last  day — the 
final  judgment — the  sentence  pronounced,  and  ex- 
ecuted— the  heavens  passing  away — the  elements 
melting — the  earth  burnt  up — the  perfections  of 
the  Deity  gradually  and  progressively  unfolded, 
and  the  everlasting  song,  "  Salvation  to  him  that 
sitteth  upon  the  throne,  and  to  the  Lamb!"  Such 
is  the  Bible  as  an  index  of  thought  and  intelli- 
gence. Has  it  not  in  this  respect  a  legitimate 
claim  to  superiority  ? 

Permit  me  also  to  enquire,  Is  there  not  evi- 
dence THAT  THE  BIBLE  IS  NOT  THE  WORK  OF  MAN  ? 

Whence  is  this  intellectual  superiority  ?  Whence 
is  it  that  the  herdsmen,  and  fishermen,  and  tent- 
makers  of  Judea  have  given  a  book  to  the  world 
which  is  so  superior  to  all  the  productions  of  hu- 
man genius  and  learning,  so  undivided  and  unique 
in  its  object,  and  in  its  design  so  unutterably  grand 
and  elevated  ?  What  presiding  genius,  what  mas- 
ter-mind was  it,  that  controlled  and  propelled  them 
at  every  step  ?  If  the  greatness  of  the  cause  may 
be  ascertained  from  the  greatness  of  the  effect,  is 
not  this  book,  as  a  mere  intellectual  effort,  inex- 
plicable upon  any  other  supposition,  than  that  it 
is  of  divine  original?  Does  not  the  light  that 
emanates  from  these  pages  proceed  from  the  great 
Fountain  and  eternal  source  of  knowledge  ?  Is  it 
not  the  production  of  the  Infinite  Mind  ?  Is  it 
not  impossible  that  it  should  have  been  the  result 
of  human  invention  ?     Is  it  not  utterly  beyond  the 


CONCLUSION.  395 

grasp  of  man  ?  Has  it  not  an  elevation  of  thought, 
a  vigour,  an  extent,  a  greatness  of  conception 
which  make  the  proudest  efforts  of  human  genius 
melt  away  like  an  untimely  birth,  and  which  bears 
on  the  face  of  it  the  intelligence  and  signature  of 
heaven  ? 

Who  is  the  author  of  a  book  all  whose  aims  and 
tendencies  are  so  full  of  kindness  ?  Does  the 
benevolence  of  the  Bible  look  like  the  work  of 
man  ?  It  was  the  remark  of  the  celebrated 
Madam  De  Stael,  that  she  desired  no  other  evi- 
dence of  the  truth  of  Christianity,  than  the  Lord's 
Prayer.  It  is  indeed  the  archetype  of  all  appro- 
priate supplication.  And  this  prayer  is  but  an 
epitome  of  the  benevolent  spirit  that  breathes 
throughout  the  New  Testament.  In  no  instance 
does  the  Bible  exert  an  influence  which  a  benevo- 
lent spirit  would  desire  to  repress.  And  does  not 
this  form  a  strong  presumption  in  favour  of  its  di- 
vine original  ?  Can  a  work  which  bears  so  promi- 
nently the  marks  of  kindness  and  mercy,  be  ra- 
tionally attributed  to  human  artifice  and  pious 
fraud  ?  When  the  captious  and  fooHsh  Pharisees 
saw  the  Saviour  heal  the  demoniac,  they  prepos- 
terously said,  "  This  fellow  doth  cast  out  devils 
by  Beelzebub,  the  Prince  of  devils.  But  Jesus 
knew  their  thoughts,  and  said  unto  them,  Every 
kingdom  divided  against  itself  is  brought  to  de- 
struction 5  and  every  city,  or  house  divided  against 
itself  shall  not  stand.  And  if  Satan  cast  out  Satan, 
he  is  divided  against  himself."     To  suppose  that 


396  CONCLUSION. 

such  a  book  were  a  fabrication,  were  to  suppose 
that  falsehood  is  the  fruit  of  goodness,  and  that 
the  kingdom  of  darkness  is  divided  against  itself. 
The  design  to  impose  such  a  volume  upon  the 
world  could  originate  from  no  other  than  the  worst 
forms  of  human  wickedness.  And  who  can  be- 
heve  that  a  book  of  such  a  benevolent  character 
had  such  an  origin  ?  The  Bible  professes  to  be  a 
teacher  sent  from  God.  As  God  is  benevolent 
and  holy  in  his  nature,  every  thing  that  proceeds 
from  him  must  be  benevolent  and  holy  in  its 
tendency,  and  produce  holiness  and  happiness  as 
its  fruits.  And  does  not  the  benevolent  tendency 
of  this  book  sustain  its  claims  to  this  divine  origin  ? 
Can  its  benevolent  character  be  accounted  for, 
without  allowing  its  claims  to  divine  inspiration  ? 
It  is  true  that  "  we  allow  great  excellence  to  what 
is  contained  in  many  books  which  no  one  supposes 
to  be  inspired  5"  but  is  not  the  excellence  of  their 
precepts  and  doctrines  derived  from  the  Bible  5 
and  where  is  there  a  book  of  unalloyed^  unmin- 
gled  excellence  except  this,  and  such  as  owe  their 
excellencies  to  this  origin  ?  Does  not  the  Bible 
do  honour  to  a  divine  Author  ?  Is  it  not  destined 
to  accomplish  all  the  purposes  which  an  infinitely 
benevolent  mind  desires  to  accomplish  ? 

And  whence  is  its  universal  adaptation  to  the 
character  and  condition  of  our  race,  except  from 
Him  who  knew  how  to  reveal  a  system  of  truth 
and  grace  fitted  to  universal  humanity  ?  There 
have  been  here  and  there  men  who  were  so  much 


CONCLUSION.  397 

in  advance  of  the  age  in  which  they  lived,  that 
they  have  impressed  their  own  individual  charac- 
ter upon  large  portions  of  human  society  around 
them,  and  upon  their  own  nation,  and  perhaps,  to 
some  extent,  upon  the  existing  generation ;  though 
this  last  hypothesis  may  be  seriously  called  in  ques- 
tion. But  where  is  the  man  whose  mighty  mind 
has  diffused  its  vivifying  rays,  not  over  one  country 
and  nation,  and  generation  of  men,  but  whose 
thoughts  and  principles,  whose  strong  and  ardent 
affections  and  moral  impulses  have  the  same  adapta- 
tion to  man  in  whatever  quarter  of  the  world  and 
in  whatever  age  of  time  he  is  found  ?  The  work 
of  man  is  a  partial,  relative,  and  limited  work. 
But  it  is  God  alone  that  can  perform  a  work,  and 
reveal  a  religion  that  is  equally  adapted  to  every 
age,  and  place,  and  creature  of  this  vast  creation. 
If  there  is  a  religion  revealed  from  heaven,  it  must 
possess  the  characteristics  of  universality  and  per- 
petuity. God  alone  can  speak  to  the  race.  His 
love  alone,  overlooking  all  the  peculiarities  of 
time,  circumstance,  condition,  and  character,  em- 
braces the  race,  and  makes  its  appeals  to  the 
heart  of  man  wherever  he  is  found.  This  is  done 
by  the  religion  of  the  Bible  5  and  wherever  such  a 
religion  is  found,  it  comes  from  God.  The  re- 
ligion of  nature,  so  far  as  it  goes,  is  for  this  reason 
from  him  *,  and  the  religion  of  the  Bible,  extend- 
ing so  far  beyond  the  religion  of  nature,  is,  for  the 
same  reason,  from  the  same  divine  source.  Is 
there  not  a  peculiarity  in  the  Bible,  in  all  these 

34 


398 


CONCLUSION. 


respects,   which  distinguishes  it  as   the   work  of 
God? 

Man  can  perform  only  the  work  of  man.  What- 
ever God  does  "  exhibits  such  clear  traces  of  the 
divine  workmanship,  as  will  distinguish  it,  at  once, 
from  the  works  of  man.     No  one,  when  he  surveys 
a  ship,  or  a  steam  engine,  or  a  watch — the  fairest 
specimens  perhaps  of  human  ingenuity,  is  in  any 
danger  of  attributing  either  of  them  to  the  handy- 
work  of  his  Maker.     But  if  we  look  at  the  works 
of  creation;  we  cannot  find  a  star  in  the  firma- 
ment, nor  a  cloud  in  the  sky,  nor  an  animal,  or  ve- 
getable, or  mineral  on  the  earth,  nor  atom  in  the 
sunbeams  which  has  not  written  on  it  in  letters  of 
light.  The  hand  that  made  me  is  divine.     The 
same  is  true  of  the  works  of  Providence.     No  man 
can  trace  the  path  of  a  planet,  or  the  progress  of 
an  empire,  or  the  life  of  man,  or  the  fall  of  a  spar- 
row, or  the  drop  of  a  leaf,  without  discovering  that 
all-wise  hand  which  regulates  their  motions.  Surely 
then,  when  God  undertakes  to  reveal  his  thoughts 
to  men,  he  can  stamp  on  the  revelation   similar 
evidence  that  it  is  the  work  of  the  Divine  mind."* 
Does  not  the  Bible  carry  with  it  a  sort  o^  intuitive 
evidence  that  it  is  the  work  of  God  ?     It  has  not 
been  the  object  of  these  lectures  to  discuss  the 
question  of  the  divine  origin  of  the   Scriptures; 


•  S.  E.  Dwight's  sermon  at  the  installation  of  Rev.  E.  Jen- 
kins. 


CONCLUSION.  399 

and  yet,  may  I  not  be  allowed  to  ask,  whether 
they  do  not  furnish  evidence  of  their  divine  origin 
which  may  not  be  hastily  set  aside  ?  Honest  in- 
quirers after  the  truth  we  respect ;  but  we  care 
little  for  the  cavils  of  men  who  "  contend  against 
their  Maker."  We  may  say  to  them  all,  '^  Who 
art  thou  that  repliest  against  God  ?"  It  is  no  mat- 
ter of  surprise  that  so  much  patient  and  critical  in- 
vestigation has  been  bestowed  on  this  great  sub- 
ject. No  question  in  the  whole  circle  of  the  sci- 
ences has  received  half  the  attention  that  has  been 
devoted  to  this.  Every  inch  of  ground  has  been 
by  turns  defended  and  disputed  j  and  had  there 
been  a  weak  spot  in  the  defence,  it  had  long  since 
been  discovered  and  assailed.  This  sacred  Book 
has  passed  the  ordeal  of  the  severest  examination ) 
and  it  is  no  assumption  to  say,  that  its  claims  have 
been  established.  Had  it  been  possible,  wicked 
and  corrupt  men  had  long  ago  swept  it  from  the 
earth.  Men  have  been  forbidden  to  read  it  *,  more 
than  once  has  it  been  publicly  burnt  by  the  com- 
mon hangman  5  emperors  and  councils  have  been 
leagued  against  it  j  popes  and  priests  have  con- 
spired to  corrupt  and  destroy  it  5  but  the  more  it 
has  been  opposed,  the  better  has  it  been  known 
and  loved.  Other  things  grow  old,  and  time  de- 
tracts from  their  vigor,  but  the  Bible  is  always  new 
and  always  young.  A  tithe  of  the  evidence,  in  re- 
lation to  any  other  matter,  which  has  been  adduced 
in  favour  of  the  divine  origin  of  the  Scriptures, 
would  have  silenced  and  satisfied  the  world.     If 


400  CONCLUSION. 

there  are  those  who  are  sceptical  and  incredulous, 
and  will  not  be  convinced  by  the  evidence  which 
has  so  often  been  adduced  in  its  favour,  we  doubt 
much  whether  evidence  ever  convinces  them.  The 
strong  hold  of  infidelity  is  more  often  found  in  the 
heart  than  in  the  intellect.  It  has  its  throne  in  the 
corrupted  affections.  It  finds  its  aliment  in  the 
love  of  sin.  Men  are  not  willing  to  beheve  the 
Bible  is  true  because  it  requires  with  such  infinite 
authority,  and  on  such  fearful  penalties,  a  holy  life. 
Pride,  luxury,  ambition,  voluptuousness,  and  secret 
sin  are  the  enemies  of  the  Bible.  There  is  no 
opinion  more  erroneous  than  that  infidelity  is 
founded  on  an  apprehended  deficiency  of  the  evi- 
dence which  supports  a  divine  revelation.  "If 
they  believe  not  Moses  and  the  prophets,  neither 
would  they  be  persuaded  though  one  rose  from  the 
dead."  Scepticism  has  other  sources  than  want  of 
light.  "  Light  is  come  into  the  world,  and  men 
have  loved  darkness  rather  than  light,  because  their 
deeds  are  evil."  Those  who  most  resemble  God 
are  most  likely  to  believe  him.  "  If  any  man  will 
do  his  will,  he  shall  know  of  the  doctrine,  whether 
it  be  of  God."     I  will  conclude  by  adding — 

Is  NOT  THE  Bible  worthy  your  serious  and 
SOLEMN  ATTENTION.  ?  The  real  merit  of  objects 
is  not  always  discerned  on  our  first  acquaintance 
with  them.  The  great  design  throughout  these 
lectures  has  been  to  honour  the  word  of  God. 
Most  sincerely  do  I  wish  they  were  a  tribute  more 
worthy  of  the  great  Book  I  have  desired  to  exalt 


CONCLUSION.  401 

To  me  it  has  seemed  that  the  Bible  is  not  appre- 
ciated. How  can  it  be  when  it  is  so  Httle  known? 
A  famihar  acquaintance  with  the  sacred  vohime  is 
the  only  way  of  ascertaining  its  true  excellence. 
The  Abbe  Winkleman,  perhaps  the  most  classical 
writer  upon  the  Fine  Arts,  after  descanting  with 
great  zeal  upon  the  perfection  of  sculpture  as  ex- 
hibited in  the  Apollo  Belvidere^  says  to  young  ar- 
tists, "  Go  and  study  it  5  and  if  you  see  no  great 
beauty  in  it  to  captivate  you,  go  again.  And  if 
you  still  discover  none,  go  again  and  again.  Go 
until  you  feel  it  5  for  be  assured  it  is  there."  So 
say  we  of  the  Bible.  You  may  not, — nay,  you 
cannot  discover  its  worth  at  a  single  reading. 
Though  its  great  truths  are  perfectly  plain  and 
easy  to  be  understood,  it  is  not  to  be  supposed  that 
it  requires  no  diligent  mental  exertion  to  compre- 
hend so  vast  a  book.  It  is,  as  we  have  already 
seen,  one  of  its  great  excellencies,  that  it  is  essen- 
tial to  the  clear  discovery  and  highest  enjoyment 
of  its  varied  instructions  that  it  puts  in  requisition 
the  highest  intellectual  and  moral  powers  of  the 
human  mind.  It  has  excellencies,  which,  the  more 
they  are  discovered,  will  the  more  lead  you  to  say 
with  one  who  was  no  indolent,  or  passive  reader 
of  its  pages,  "  Open  thou  mine  eyes,  that  I  may 
behold  wonderful  things  out  of  thy  law !"  All  the 
treasures  of  this  inexhaustible  mine  are  not  found 
upon  its  surface.  After  all  that  critics  and  theolo- 
gians have  explored,  rich  jewels  will  yet  be  found 
far  below  the  ground.     "  Search  the  Scriptures." 

34* 


402  CONCLUSION. 

Search  them  daily.  Search  them  not  from  cu- 
riosity merely,  though  curiosity  and  learning  are 
amply  remunerated  by  the  search  ;  but  from  a  deep 
and  personal  interest  in  their  instructions.  En- 
deavour to  extract  from  them  the  sense  they  were 
intended  to  convey.  And  that  you  may  do  this, 
go  to  them  with  a  heart  and  mind  deeply  imbued 
with  their  spirit.  It  is  true  they  require  thought 
and  intellect  j  but  it  is  not  always  when  mere  intel- 
lect is  most  exercised  and  acute,  that  divine  truth 
discloses  itself  to  the  mind  most  clearly,  or  in  its 
most  lovely  forms.  I  have  known  men  who  were 
profound  critics  and  acute  controversialists  5  whose 
inquiries  indicated  an  enlarged  and  comprehensive 
acquaintance  with  the  sacred  volume,  who  em- 
ployed all  their  energy  and  resources  in  becoming 
masters  of  that  varied  learning  which  might  shed 
light  upon  this  ancient  book  j  but  who  were  never 
"  mighty  in  the  Scriptures,"  because  they  had  not 
drank  into  its  spirit,  and  who  instead  of  unlocking 
this  rich  treasury,  took  away  the  key  of  knowledge. 
The  Bible  is  not  more  a  revelation  of  the  mind, 
than  of  tlie  heart  of  the  Deity.  It  has  a  soul  5 
and  it  is  the  soul  only  that  can  catch  its  heavenly 
teachings.  When  you  go  to  this  book  of  God,  let 
it  be  not  so  much  to  gratify  a  restive  intellect,  as 
to  find  spiritual  aliment  5  not  so  much  to  decipher 
the  Urim  and  Thummim,  as  to  find  the  heavenly 
manna.  There  are  difficulties,  nay,  there  are  mys- 
teries in  the  Bible  j  and  so  there  are  mysteries  in 
every   star   and   every   grain  of  sand.     But  if  it 


CONCLUSION.  403 

makes  you  holy  and  fits  you  for  heaven,  you  may 
leave  it  to  its  enemies  to  reproach  it  on  account  of 
its  mysteries. 

Nor  is  it  enough  to  understand  the  Scriptures. 
They  must  be  loved  and  obeyed.  Search  them, 
sincerely  desirous  not  only  to  know,  but  to  do  the 
will  of  their  Author.  Though  they  may  be  wound- 
ing to  your  pride,  receive  them  with  all  readiness 
of  mind.  Though  there  may  be  a  sensible  colli- 
sion, a  severe  conflict,  between  the  truth  of  God 
and  the  unhumbled  heart  5  yet  must  the  truth  of 
God  be  believed  and  loved.  It  is  no  impossible 
thing  for  your  convictions  to  correspond  with  the 
truths  of  the  Bible,  while  your  affections  and  dis- 
positions have  no  such  correspondence.  The  word 
of  God  has  comprehensive  claims.  Its  great  Au- 
thor requires  every  man  to  receive  it  on  his  own 
divine  testimony.  True  Christianity  is  heartfelt 
obedience  to  the  truth  of  God.  "  He  that  believ- 
eth  not  God,  hath  made  him  a  liar,  because  he  be- 
lieveth  not  the  record  which  God  hath  given  con- 
cerning his  Son."  O,  it  were  a  grief  of  heart,  ray 
young  friends,  to  live  and  die  the  enemy  of  this 
Bible  and  this  Saviour.  "Hold  fast  that  thou 
hast,  let  no  man  take  thy  crown !" 

I  have  now  concluded  this  series  of  lectures.  In 
bringing  them  to  a  close,  I  cannot  but  express  my 
devout  gratitude  to  Almighty  God  for  the  favour 
with  which  his  providence  has  attended  them. 
Most  unfeignedly  also  do  I  express  my  acknow- 
ledgements to  this  audience  for  the  attentive  ear 


404  CONCLUSION. 

with  which  they  have  Hstened  to  these  exercises. 
My  humble  prayer  is,  that  in  that  Great  Day  which 
shall  disclose  the  results  of  our  privileges  and  ob- 
ligations, both  the  hearers  and  the  speaker  may 
see  that  they  have  had  some  influence  in  securing 
a  welcome  entrance  of  the  word  of  life  into  your 
hearts  and  his  own.  "  Now  the  God  of  peace, 
that  brought  again  from  the  dead  our  Lord  Jesus, 
that  great  Shepherd  of  the  sheep,  through  the 
blood  of  the  everlasting  covenant,  make  you  per- 
fect in  every  good  work  to  do  his  will,  working  in 
you  that  which  is  well  pleasing  in  his  sight,  through 
Jesus  Christ,  to  whom  be  glory  for  ever  and  ever, 
amen ! 


7lllMlini^aiSfL^^'"'''ar>  Libran 


1    1012  01247  9871 


Date  Due 

M  11  '38 

f " 

^ 

